Given and taken away

Sometimes I remember about lessons I've learned while growing up. One of the biggest for me was the systematic removal of people and  places that I cared about. Many things that I really care about began to disappear.

I'm sure you have similar stories.
There are several thousand branches on this tree arching upward and downwards in various directions. For the sake of the reader I will use the noun approach; A person, place and a thing.

First a person. One of the greatest persons in my life was my mother. She taught me about compassion and believing the best in people. She taught me that people all make mistakes and everyone needs love and generosity even if they don't seem to deserve it. She taught me that the greatest joy she could ever have was to know that her children would love Jesus. That last thing she told me before she died from cancer, was she was proud of me and my wife. Immortalized on my heart.

Second is a Place.
There was a place I loved to go after school. The smell was vivid and lively. It was a little petshop where I bought some of my first lizards. Ill never forget getting my first critter bringing that plastic container home and filling it with soil from an abandoned flowerpot. Watching those critters hide on branches. That petshop smell was distinct. It was not horrible just damp and unique. When it closed down, I was not there to see it happen. The memory I recalled was that of starting up, getting something in motion from dinosaurs to lizards, this was the place where I came to see the value of God's beautiful creation, to care for it and protect it. Later that love would progress beyond animals to people and ministry then to my family and friends. This place between junior high-school and high school was a bridge to a new life and career in caring.

The third is a "Thing". The family car, Betsy. My family's Chevy impala station wagon. In this vehicle, my dad was so happy that he took us all to the Bronx Zoo, when my littlest sister was born. It took us to Florida right, past and by Universal Studio and Disney and took me to dairy farming, and took us to summer camp and church gatherings and then to college. This big ole boat was the car that I used to get my driver's license. Those stick to your legs vinyl seats in the summer. The no air conditioning in the summer, while engine heated car in the winter. Extra seat in the back that transform the station wagon. This "transformer" that everyone made fun of, because it had racing stripes and huge tires, We loved this car-well as much as anyone could love an inanimate object without calling it idolatry.
There came a day when it died. We called a flat bed tow truck who promptly came, my dad, my mom, my sisters and I watched as this car was crushed to bits. We moped around the house. Sadness! Oh sadness! We were devestated that BETSY was gone, the vehicle that carried a family of six. It was the seventh member of our family. Other cars came and gone but BETSY was the absolute best.

There's are more stories, hundreds more connections, but that's it for now.

Keep in touch.