It's Thanksgiving: God Signs ...

* The rain washed, sparkling, radiant land; mist rising from the ground and vegetation, drifting into the canyons and over the ridges of mountains, splendidly blanketed in snow, etched against the azure sky

* A beautiful Baby Girl who, 14 months ago, almost certainly would not survive the ravages of a major stroke that crippled the entire left side of the Mother in whose womb she was growing …

* A lovely, loving Mother crippled by a vicious stroke now all but fully recovered and providing care for a 5 mo. old Daughter, a 7 yr. old Son, a 4yr. old Son, a lovely Home, and a Man, our Son, who has become to her as special as he is to us!

* 3 Young Men – genuinely noble men – whom God has given us as Sons! Each of them living influential lives as Christ-followers, who are finding fulfillment in a life of service. Two are Pastors to Christ’s Church. The other serves in the world of Adventure Sports. For all 3 of them the people they serve are most important!

* 3 lovely women, exemplary Wives and Mothers, each of them skilled in Professions where they’ve excelled, who love our Sons deeply and devotedly. They too are genuinely noble and live their lives first for the people they care for. Together they have borne 10 Children – 6 boys and 4 girls – who are the finest, most intelligent, delightful noble young men and women ever to be born! Why I can’t remember ever having to change even one of any of their diapers …

* A venerable man of 87 now completely dependent. Once strong and a compulsive walker he can now barely shuffle from his recliner to the bathroom. He’s incontinent. Dementia has reduced him to virtual oblivion. He’s pleasant but doesn’t know it’s you he’s giving a smile.

Admirable in his Prime with a record of achievements as a pilot for Academic, Medical, and Religious Service agencies in the Nation of Paraguay, he literally blazed trails and made possible developments that gave access and hope to many in the remote regions of that Nation who’d had little of either. A Nation which had become Home for him and his Family for over 25 years.

Today this great Man is no longer the cavalier, resourceful, caring “flyer” who brought help and hope to thousands. His dignity is all but gone.

Yet, in the shadows, marginalized by his growing incapacity, a subtle light reveals the true Man that cannot be denied. A small group of Torchbearers, convinced that no person is a cipher, regardless of their age, have committed to caring for him; a man of undeniable dignity.

They attend to him as they would a King. Every aspect of his life, even the most intimate, is seen as of highest importance. And they do what they do with such skill and kindness that he is never humiliated or demeaned.

Caring for “Ernie” in this way they not only affirm his worth. They demonstrate the dignity of our race supremely!

Jesus of Nazareth said, of Heaven’s Citizens, “Those who are greatest among you are those who serve one another.”

THANK YOU! LORD JESUS THAT IN YOUR SACRIFICIAL LOVE YOU DEMONSTRATED HOW THIS LOVE WHICH SERVES NO MATTER THE COST IS WHAT MAKES US TRULY HUMAN … THE NOBLE BEINGS YOU’VE DESIGNED AND CREATED TO BE LIKE YOURSELF!