This morn­ing, while we were in the office, Liz was talk­ing to me about… some­thing and I had to take her photo. The morn­ing light com­ing into the office was just per­fect. It’s been a while since I’ve got the cam­era out, and I’m glad I did.

This morn­ing we were headed to a funeral ser­vice for Jeff Jor­dan, Emily Rowland’s father. Thanks­giv­ing day, Emiliy and her hus­band, Justin, were with Emily’s fam­ily mak­ing din­ner with her par­ents. I’m unclear on the details but her dad had a mas­sive heart attack and died that day at the Mar­gret Mary Com­mu­nity Hos­pi­tal here in Batesville.

Although I didn’t know many of the peo­ple there, it was so mov­ing to hear peo­ple talk about Jeff. It was espe­cially hard for me to hear his wife talk about him. I’ve said the very same words and phrases that she did in describ­ing the grate­ful­ness for her spouse. I couldn’t help the tears on my face. Once the ser­vice was over, we paid our respects, spoke briefly with Justin and Emily Row­land and drove back to Osgood.

Dri­ving back, I was so grate­ful for Liz. Life is given by the Lord and nobody knows when our souls will be asked of us. I have all kinds of hopes and dreams for our future together. What would I do if she was taken away so sud­denly? I’m sure Jeff had hopes and dreams too. Now he stands with the great cloud of wit­nesses watch­ing his fam­ily from a far. I sit next to my wife and I’m so grate­ful. Live life to the best of your abil­ity to the glory of Jesus. It’s a life well-​​lived.