Lynne

One of my dearest friends passed away last night/early this morning. My neighbor, my friend- Lynne.

Lynne, wasn't your "typical" believer. She was one of those that would literally give the shirt off her back to you. She would give you her last penny. She would give you her bed to sleep in. She would give you her last morsel of food. She had a deep trust in God.

I never knew her to go to church except once, Allison's wedding. I can still see her sitting in the pew. It kind of looked odd. Here was this wild beautiful daughter of God- a loner, a homebody inside of a manmade building. It just didn't look right.

Her sanctuary was her back yard. The wind blowing through her hair, the sun on her face, dirt on her hands, knees and clothes. Flowers blooming EVERYWHERE and she knew their names and background.

Many many times through the years we would sit on the back porch and spoke of Jesus. We had true fellowship of spirit and Spirit on that back porch. I learned a lot about this God that you can't put up and leave in a building. I learned what really TRUSTING God from this beautiful woman.

A woman whose husband had a debilitating stroke when she was 36 that changed the course of their lives- along with their young children 9 and 12. And her two stepsons that she loved like her own. A woman that bore a load that most woman would crush under. A woman that still loved her "little man" Lamar when he was healthy and to the last day he died 15 years later. She babied him and she DIDN'T baby him! She loved with a selfless love.

I don't remember her much opening her Bible but I saw Jesus being lived OUT. Jesus, a name she spoke with intimacy and knowing.

I thank God for Lynne. For Brandi McCallister and Jesse Thomas McCallister. I thank God for Lamar, dear beloved Lamar. For Connie and Jason.

I learned more about who God really is by watching a woman knees on the ground and face lifted to the sky- than I did from about anyone else.

I told Lynne recently, "You've been through a lot in your life. You've had a lot of sorrow." She said to me, "I don't see it that way- I think I've always had a blessed life."

I love and miss you....and yet I know who is walking through the great gardens of heaven with Jesus- smelling the roses.

***There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven. A time to give birth and a time to die. A time to mourn and a time to dance.- Ecclesiastes 3:1,2.4****