Reunions.....

Once there were two little boys who became the best of friends. Their names were Grant and Ross. These little boys had a friendship that was so special. It was so deep and so rich, one many adults have never experienced.…it defies words to try and describe it.

On one of their adventures together, Grant’s family took the kids to a reptile show. Ross came home with a turtle compliments of Grant’s sweet mama, Emily. Sweet was not the word I was thinking when I realized we had just been gifted with a reptile that would live at least sixty years.

Speedy, as she was dubbed, quickly became a welcome addition to our family. She was the funniest little turtle you could ever imagine. She acted more like a dog than a turtle. She begged for food, and loved being hand-fed. She liked to hang out with everyone. She would come up to the glass and clamor for you to pick her up. Ross and Owain would take Speedy for walks, just like a dog. She loved it! We would play in the front yard, where she would scoot from one person to another, climbing onto their feet and then just sitting there.

One day the boys had Speedy in our backyard for some sunshine and to stretch her legs. Ross had to run into the house for something, so Owain was given turtle guard duty. In the blink of an eye, Speedy was gone. We searched high and low. We spent days looking for Speedy, but to no avail. The heartbreak was unbelievable. I just kept telling Ross that Speedy was on a grand adventure and we just had to keep praying that she would come back soon, and Ross did. Every night he would pray that God would bring his friend back. Speedy did not come back, but Ross kept praying.
 
Ross’s friend Grant was not just any little boy. He was a little boy who had been given a path to walk that would break most of us, or make us question our faith in God. Grant had Mitochondrial disease. Grant’s little body was giving out little by little, but his faith in Jesus was growing by leaps and bounds, with every precious breath he took. Grant, more than most adults I know, had the eternal perspective of knowing where his hope and future was. He knew that even though this little body, which he had been given to house his precious spirit, was giving up...this would not be the end. He knew he was going home to be with Jesus sooner than later.

On February 6, 2009, Grant went home to be with Jesus. I cannot write this without tears running down my face, and my heart aching for his mama, his daddy, his precious big brother and sister, and for the rest of Grant’s family.

It is so precious, the comfort we have in Christ Jesus, that if He is our Lord and Saviour, we will see our loved ones again. This does not change the suffering and sorrow for the people left behind, the grief of not having that precious loved one still with us. But what a comfort, knowing there is a reunion waiting to happen in the future.

When we told Ross that Granty had gone home to be with Jesus, his first words through his tears were, “He was ripe fruit. Jesus took him home.”

Ross was devastated at the loss of his friend, and he went through a very difficult time. Ross knew someday he would see Grant again, and when he did they would sit around and share stories of what they had been up to, but Ross wanted Grant back NOW.

A week after Grant went home to be with Jesus, we got Ross a pug. We thought this would help him through this time. Ross named his pug, Hug Oliver Harrison. Hug, because that is how Grant would say “pug”. Grant had a pug at one point and when you would ask him what kind of dog he was he would say, “Him’s a hug.” The Oliver Harrison were Grant’s middle names. Ross wanted to honor his buddy. One day Hug ran away. I will never forget walking on the road with Ross, looking for Hug and Ross inconsolably saying, “Every time I love someone, they leave. Grant left to go to heaven, Speedy ran away, and now Hug ran away. Why does everyone I love have to leave?” Thankfully, Hug had not left for good. He was just scoping out his new neighborhood.

The following summer, the boys were sitting at the counter in the kitchen eating their lunch, when all of the sudden Owain yelled in a strangled voice, “SPEEEEEEEDDDDDYYYYY!!!!!!!”

Sure enough, there outside our dining room door was Speedy. She was flipped over on her back, because she had tried to climb up onto the door ledge and into the house. There were tears aplenty that day. She had grown, but she was the same old Speedy. She still thought she was a dog and she still loved her boys. There was great rejoicing in the Grandfield house that night. Ross was so in awe that after all that time, God had answered his prayer.

Time passed and Speedy was growing by leaps and bounds. We got her a bigger tank, but she just grew out of that. We talked to Ross about letting Speedy go, how it would be so much better for her to live in freedom. We knew we could not push the issue and it had to be completely his decision. Then one day it happened. It was when Speedy had laid eggs in her tank. Ross realized that the eggs would never get to hatch, and Speedy would always be stuck in whatever tank we could provide for her.

I had the privilege of overhearing his conversation with her when he told her of his decision. He told her before he told us. It went something like this, “Ok, Speedy. I know. I know, Speedy. I have to let you go. You need to be free so you can be a mom and you can swim all over the place. You need to be free so you can explore some more, and not just our backyard. I don’t want to let you go. I am going to be so sad, because I want you to stay here with me. I want to always have you tell me hi when I come in the room and always want to go for walks with me. But Speedy, I love you and I want you to be happy….and I know you are not as happy as you could be. So I am letting you go, but if it is ok with you, I need to spend some time with you. I need to get used knowing you won’t be right here anymore. I want you to stay with me a few more weeks, until March 4th. Then I’ll let you go. I promise."

Ross kept his promise to Speedy. On March 4, 2012, Ross released Speedy, with his brother and his best buddies joining him for the farewell celebration. Speedy was released at what we now affectionately call Speedy’s Spot. It was such a special day…such an emotional day. It was the day my little boy came to understand what genuine love can sometimes require of you. Sometimes it means letting go. Sometimes it means an act of sacrifice. Sometimes it means putting their needs before your needs. Sometimes it means having to say goodbye.

The past week or so Ross had been really missing Grant. The other day he came across a big foam heart Grant had made him that says, “I love you, Ross.” What a sweet find. What a sweet friend Grant was to Ross. He taught Ross so much. Grant is always in his heart and he always misses him, but there are weeks where he struggles with not being able to see him. Ross wants to go have big adventures with his buddy. We remind him that he will indeed see Granty again someday, and they will have eternity to hang out and have big adventures.

The other day we went to the river, to Speedy’s Spot. As we were splashing around, we looked upstream and noticed a good-sized bump on a log. We decided to take a little walk up the river to see if maybe, just maybe, it was a big, red-eared slider who answers to the name Speedy. When we got close enough, we saw it was indeed a red-eared slider. She saw us too and slid into the water. We apologized for disturbing her and left, discussing how awesome it would be if that was Speedy we had just seen. As we made our way back down the river, so did the turtle. She came with us to the place we were hanging out and spent the rest of the day hanging out with the boys in the water. Wherever they went, she went. If they went down the rapids, she went down the rapids. She stayed locked on them for the rest of our time there. The boys talked to her, and if she was a dog, you would have seen her ears perked up and her head tilting, as she listened to her boys chatting with her. It was a precious day at Speedy’s Spot. It was a wonderful reminder that even when we do have to say goodbye, it does not mean it is forever. Someday there will be other reunions too.....


 
Speedy taking her first steps of freedom on March 4, 2012.

A Still, Small Voice....

The "new-to-us" old, cream-colored station wagon, my little sisters

 and me.

"Dad, the car is on fire."

I will never forget those words from a still, small voice....

When I was six, we rolled our truck and trailer just south of the Canadian/US border. Because we were without a vehicle, a lovely family in Montana gifted my parents with an old, cream-colored station wagon.  After a time, we got a new travel trailer to replace the one we had totaled. 

Back on the road we went, with our new "mobile home" being towed behind our "new-to-us" cream-colored station wagon. At the best of times, towing a 25' travel trailer with an old station wagon would not be a great idea, but add to that: eight people, the extra weight in the trailer...and let me tell you....there WAS extra weight. My dad did not believe in traveling light. He thought the trailer was his mobile office, not his mobile home. We would be weighted down with typewriters, tape recorders, books, papers, a megaphone, a soapbox, and the list goes on. 

Somewhere near Pierre, North Dakota, my brother Joel and I were sitting at the very back of the station wagon with our backs resting against the tailgate. We were talking about this and that, or we were playing one of our many invented travel games. Joel was a very easy going kid. He was definitely the calm one of our bunch. He always spoke in a very measured tone, and nothing ever seemed to rattle him. The rest of us, on the other hand, could have a bit of a flare for the dramatic.

As we cruised down the highway,  Joel stated, "Dad, the car is on fire." His delivery was so calm and quiet, that at first it didn't really register. Apparently it didn't register with my dad either, because we just kept on cruising down the highway. Then Joel repeated himself. "Dad, the car is on fire."

Still, it was the same calm, measured tone. Then a third time...this time I looked....so did my mum. Sure enough, there were flames shooting up from underneath the station wagon, curling up to the top of the car roof. I screamed, "DAD!!!! THE CAR IS ON FIRE!!!!"

At the same time my mum was yelling, "MAX!!!!! THE CAR IS ON FIRE!!!!!"

The next few moments were a panicked, chaotic jumble. As soon as we pulled over to the side of the road, Mum and Dad both leaped into action. Dad was trying to disconnect the car from the trailer, while Mum tried to put the fire out....without a fire extinguisher, as we didn't have one. Virgil, Jonathan, and I, with varying levels of panic, quickly removed ourselves from the imminent danger of a flaming station wagon.

In contrast, Joel calmly went about getting my one and three year old little sisters, who were still in the car, out of the car and out of harms way. Not once in the midst of the chaos did he become panicked or upset. He just stayed constant and determined to finish his task of getting his message through, and help take care of those he loved and felt were his to protect.

Thinking of this reminded me of another time....

A couple of years later my brother Rob, who was about twenty-two or twenty three at the time, was visiting us in Texas. He and my brothers, Virgil and Joel, were out in the yard playing catch. I was watching from the sidelines. During the game of catch, Jonathan came up and tugged on Rob's arm.

"Just a minute, Jonathan." Patiently Jonathan waited. After a few moments he again tugged on Rob's sleeve. "Just a minute, Jonathan." This back and forth went on for a few more moments, with Rob finally getting a bit frustrated with Jonathan's quiet persistence. So the final time it was, "Whaaat, Jonathan?!!"

"Ummmm, Robbie, I just wanted to tell you the yard is on fire, and it's burnin' up."

Dad had been burning some trash, and an ember had landed on our very dry grass and ignited a grass fire in our yard. Dad had assigned Jonathan guard duty to sound the alarm if there were any issues.  Jonathan had done just that. He had tried to sound the alarm to prevent disaster in the calm of his small voice.

When he was finally heard, the responding action was instantaneous. Rob sprang into action, directing us kids, while he tried to douse the flames with a water hose. Other than some very black grass, everything turned out just fine.

Thinking of these stories made me think about how often the Lord is speaking to me, but sometimes I go along oblivious to it, because I am either wrapped up in something going on around me or within myself. Or there are the times I am waiting for flashes of lightening or rolls of thunder.

I think often times we pray about things, and then expect God to guide us or direct us in a big, booming way, with big neon road signs, or a sky-writing plane, telling us what direction we need to take or what we need to do. We want God to reveal things to us in a larger than life manner. We pray and ask for His guidance, or to be able to feel His presence in our lives, but then we are sure we have not heard from Him, because maybe His answer was not what we expected at all, but instead His answer was with a still, small voice.

Elijah is a perfect example for us.  He could recognize the big, booming voice of God...

In 1 Kings, we see miracle upon miracle worked by God through Elijah. This guy had very open, audible communication with the Lord. This is the same Elijah who had prayed and in answer to his prayer, God had closed up the heavens so no rain fell on the nation of Israel for three and a half years.

In 1 Kings 18 and 19,  Elijah had just seen God work in a mighty way against the false prophets of Baal. Elijah didn't just see God work, he had been used as God's instrument to bring it about. Elijah  called down fire from heaven onto the alter he had prepared. He then proceeded to destroy 300 prophets of Baal. None of this was of or by his own power. It was all the power of God, using a willing vessel. If you haven't visited this event in the Bible lately, I highly encourage it. It cracks me up EVERY time I read it. I love Elijah's taunts to the prophets of Baal. Priceless.

Because of Elijah's part in it,  Jezebel declared her intent to kill him. Elijah went into a tailspin, allowing his fears to overtake him. He ran away and hid in the wilderness. Remember, this is the same guy who just slaughtered three hundred prophets of Baal.

Elijah felt helpless and hopeless. He felt alone. He prayed for the Lord to take his life. While he slept, the Angel of the Lord came to answer his prayer. He came to care for him and sustain his life, not to take his life. The Angel of the Lord brought him food and water. The Lord woke him and told him to eat. He did and then went back to sleep. Elijah was still struggling emotionally.

 Again, the Angel of the Lord came to Elijah, still in answer to Elijah's prayer. Again he brought him food and told him to eat, because the journey was too much for him. Elijah ate and then struck out on a journey into the wilderness for forty days. His only sustenance was what the Angel of the Lord had fed him and given him to drink.

Elijah's journey took him to the Mountain of the Lord, Mount Horeb.....also known as Mount Sinai. Here Elijah took up residence in a cave. The Lord came to him, and asked him what he was doing there.  Elijah basically told the Lord he was hiding out, because he was all alone, and his life was being sought. Even with all the evidence Elijah had witnessed of the greatness of God, he still had fears, doubts, depression, and loneliness. He was not alone, because God was with him,  but he felt lonely. Even though he had been cared for and nourished by God, he still felt lost and alone.

Here is what the Lord told him....


So He said, "Go forth and stand on the mountain before the LORD."

And behold, the LORD was passing by! And a great and strong wind was rending the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake.
After the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of a gentle blowing. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave.
And behold, a voice came to him and said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

1 Kings 19:11-14

The Lord was making a point here. He had been answering Elijah, gently and quietly, but not in the awesome, unmistakeable way Elijah must have been looking for. So the Lord gave Elijah an object lesson. Yes, the Lord can use mighty and awesome wonders to make His presence known and to give us direction.  He can use a great, strong wind that can rend mountains and break rocks. He can use an earthquake, or a fire. But don't miss it when He is speaking to you in a still, small voice out of a gently blowing breeze.