Joyful Transformation

My mother is the youngest of ten children. Needless to say there were always a lot of Aunts, Uncles and Cousins around during the holidays. Well, actually they were around pretty much all of the time. One of my favorite Uncles was my Uncle Kelly. He loved to play practical jokes on me. His daughter Jennifer and I were the same age and we used to spend hours on end together when we were out of school. Uncle Kelly let us make a play house out of a corn crib. I don’t think he knew we would paint the inside black, but he was pretty patient with us. One year Jennifer and I decided we could build us a house in the back yard. There was some lumber out by the barn. We started working, but were soon stumped by something as simple as corners! Who knew about the whole post thing? I am sure Uncle Kelly did, but in his wisdom he kept the secret from us. He paid us to help haul hay when in actuality we were probably more of a hindrance than a help. But he never seemed to mind having us along. He used to run an excavating business and my Dad worked for him one summer. Well Jennifer and I decided to go to work with them (at the crack of dawn). That just wasn’t as much fun as we thought it would be, but he took us to this little restaurant to eat (since we had eaten the lunches our Moms packed for us around 9:30)....so it was worth it.

Back in those days Uncle Kelly was a BIG guy. He had served in the army during WWII and learned to love a cigar. After the years of not having enough to eat, he managed to pack on a few extra pounds when he returned home. In contrast his wife Aunt NiNi (nee-nee) was a tiny little woman….but she had a big voice and they argued…a lot!! I used to worry about the way the argued, but they loved each other, I guess they just showed it a little differently.

One of the places that all of my family was never at together was church. Oh we were all good old CofC, but my Uncle Kelly and one of my other Uncles left our church for one of the more conservative churches. {more conservative than the church of Christ seems to be a bit of a paradox, huh?} Sadly, we were not even allowed to visit each other’s churches in those days. At family reunions those uncles and cousins were never called on to lead prayer…sad, tragic, useless. But for the most part the family stayed united and many of those barriers have been broken down today.

My Uncle Kelly died last night. He has wasted away at a nursing home with failing health for a while now. I didn’t go see him like I should; as a matter of fact I think I only went to see him twice. I regret that. But I have so many wonderful memories of the happy fun-loving man from my youth. Death is inevitable you know. It is good to be a part of a family that puts God first. I can’t wait for that great reunion on the other side.

This was the last paragraph in a Heartlight I received this morning by Russ Lawson:

Of whom do you have special memories? Have you told that person lately?Sometimes you can't, they're gone to be with the Lord or you've just lost track of them. There are so many people in life that I remember with wonderful memories. There is no way I can tell them all how much they mean to me. So if I haven't told you, thank you for making my life special by just taking time to read this, love the Lord, and share your life with God's people.

AMEN!