Well this year's birthday has come and gone. July 30th DJ would have been 21, a milestone year. In some ways I may have felt more at peace this year then many of the past years. When I thought of DJ as a young man of 21 years I pictured a strong healthy, sandy and curly haired grinning young man with that twinkle in his eye as though he held a secret delight in his heart.
This time though I had a strange sense that this is what he really looks like, in heaven of course.
My heart always sings a bit when I think of him this way and all at the same time my eyes fill with tears.
David and his girlfriend Sarah came with Dan and I as we went to the cemetery to replace faded flowers. we lingered for a bit dusting off the marker and rearranging one more time the small remembrance before we prayed and left for home.
I wished Derek and Rachel were with us but of course they are far away across the country. I sometimes long for Derek's embrace and to hear his voice but on this day in-particular his absence was difficult and although Rachel never knew DJ, somehow I think she knows him because she loves Derek so well.
God is so good, He truly is, He comforts those who mourn, He promises to meet us in our need and He ALWAYS fulfills His Word. I remembered an old hymn just as I was trying to clear my mind and O how the peace of the lord filled me...
O how I love Jesus, O how I love Je-sus, O how I love Jesus, because he first loved me.
How beautiful, how simple, how wonderful! God is faithful!
