Ramblings-n-Writings

Archive for September 9th, 2007

In thinking about the brevity of life and the trials that come as we walk life’s path, I am reminded of the old hymn, “His Eye is on the Sparrow.”

Why should I feel discouraged, why should the shadows come,
Why should my heart be lonely, and long for heaven and home,
When Jesus is my portion? My constant friend is He:
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

I sing because I’m happy,
I sing because I’m free,
For His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me.

“Let not your heart be troubled,” His tender word I hear,
And resting on His goodness, I lose my doubts and fears;
Though by the path He leadeth, but one step I may see;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

Whenever I am tempted, whenever clouds arise,
When songs give place to sighing, when hope within me dies,
I draw the closer to Him, from care He sets me free;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

I sing because I’m happy,
I sing because I’m free,
For His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me.

Dedicated in memory of Roy Ellis (02.20.35 – 09.05.07)

There’s something about the thrill of finding an old friend who you haven’t heard from in years. Prior to beginning my blogging experience, I jumped head first into the world of Facebook. For those of you unfamiliar with the concept of Facebook, it’s similar to MySpace. And for those of you unfamiliar with MySpace, well, I don’t know what to say. Seriously, Facebook is a “social networking utility.” Big words to say that through Facebook you can find all those old friends you lost contact with. For someone like myself who has lived in 3 different states and attended college in a 4th state Facebook is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Well, not really.

Much to my delight, in the past 2 months I’ve managed to accumulate 61 friends via Facebook (just about an average of one friend per day). Now, these people are not strangers. These are 61 people that my life has come in contact with sometime during the past 15 years or so. Our associations are varied too – high school classmates, college friends, cousins, former students and others.

Yesterday I received an email that Becky L. had added me to her friend list. Woo-hoo! I hadn’t heard from or seen Becky in about 10 years. (She was one of my classmates from Kindergarten through 12th grade.) We were great friends and often spent Sunday afternoons at each other’s houses riding bikes, reading books etc. But as things happen, we went our separate ways after high school and college. Now, 13 years later, we’re back in touch! We’re walking down memory lane remembering VW Rabbits, bike rides, our families etc.

Today, our pastor mentioned the “great expansion of knowledge” referred to in the Bible as happening during the end times. (Sorry, I don’t know the reference.) He talked about how out here in the middle of nowhere we have access to high speed internet and in a matter of seconds can send an email to a missionary in Siberia. He also mentioned how we can get online and research any topic – the information is at our fingertips. While his observations further solidify the idea that we are getting closer to the end times, I find myself grateful that I am living during a time of knowledge and a time where friends and relatives are just a mouse-click away rather than a day’s journey.

But even with society’s expansion of knowledge, man still cannot change the fact that we all must die. Our lives are a vapor in the vast scheme of things. What is here today is gone tomorrow. When I was visiting W.Va. before I moved here, my future husband and I visited a local church. An older gentleman, Roy, greeted us at the door and took the time to learn about us, to welcome us. Roy and Carolyn, his wife, are perhaps two of the most genuine people we’ve met. There was no question that they cared about us as two individuals and as a couple. After attending Cornerstone for almost 2 years, we moved on to a different church. Whenever we returned for special programs or whatever reason, Roy was the first to seek us out and learn what had happened in our lives since the last visit. Through a series of events, we began attending there again this summer. Today was perhaps the saddest Sunday I’ve experienced in many years because Roy wasn’t there to greet us. Today was his first Sunday in heaven and I look forward to the day I cross heaven’s shore and find Roy waiting to shake my hand again.