Saturday, March 26, 2016

Happy Resurrection Day...

...He is risen...and for that we give thanks to God in heaven.

A couple of hopeful signs of early spring:




This is a conflicted weekend for me, because after a long battle with cancer, my older brother Ken died on Friday evening.
That's Ken within the last year, showing the effects of his fight.  He was a life long LSU fan, thus the T shirt and truck decal.
Above, Ken's preparing to go out and get the mail...during the winter where he lived in Maine, getting the mail could be an adventure...note the boots and farewell salute, just in case.

These are his five sons and stepdaughter.
Note the son on the far right...that's how Ken looked in his youth...the second one from the left looks a lot like Ken, too.

I won't pretend we were close...that's a long story not worth repeating...but we were family, and he was my last living family member...Mom, Dad, Phil and Ken are all gone now, leaving li'l ol' me.  Strange feeling.

What I feel worst about right now is a trifle, hardly worth mentioning, but it weighs on my heart.

I have one review of my books on Amazon.com.  That review is for "Papa's Model T: The Genesis", and Ken wrote it.  It says:

"Of course it's a cool book.  my brother wrote it."

If you knew the relationship we had through the years, you'd understand how amazing that is.  He told Karen on facebook he loved the book, and hoped there'd be a second one for him to read.

I had an idea for the next book, and knowing Ken did not have a lot of time left motivated me to hurry up and finish it.  I got proof copies, but found errors so corrected them...more proof copies, more corrections, until finally it was ready for publication.

At last I mailed a copy to Ken on Thursday...just in time for him to never read it.

Ecclesiastes says "the heart of the wise is in the house of mourning," so I will pause and reflect on the things of eternity this weekend.

As I do I will keep in mind the amazing truth Jesus conquered death when he rose to life again.  From defeat and despair on crucifixion Friday arose life and hope on Resurrection Sunday.  We press on.


There is no coherent segue from the significant to the mundane, so I won't attempt one here.

Later, mcm fans...