Charles loves to fish.  It is evident from this gaping smile. One Christmas we gave my dad, Charles, one of his cousins, & Mark a guided fishing trip for Christmas.

Please notice the waves in the background.  Mark gets crazy motion sick.  Dizzy, nauseous, head aches, not a pretty picture.  No doubt, Mark was green & begging for dry ground.

Fishing takes patience, knowledge, & faith.  There is no guarantee what you will catch if you catch anything.  Moreover, some excel in certain fishing experiences while at the very same time others crumble to their knees.

This is the same with life.  This past week my grandfather left the this earth & went to live with our Father in Heaven.  This has been a bittersweet time for our family.  My Granddaddy Nolan was an incredible man.  He lived, I mean really lived, for 95 years.  He saw the world change.  He experienced incredible joy, crushing loss, & amazing rebirth.  He wrote, “I lived a long and wonderful life.”

The mystery that comes from this simple statement is magnificent to me.  I witnessed a faith & peace in my granddaddy that only comes from God.  My granddaddy was humble and gracious, strong and thankful, weak and triumphant.  None of these seem fit together in the world.  Yet when the world sees it they know it is different.  I knew my granddaddy was different.

My granddaddy told me a few years ago when the pain in his shoulders was nearly too much to bare, “If I had known I was going to live this long, I would have had this shoulder fixed when I was 80.”  He was serious and jesting at the same time.  Even when pain was overcoming him, he could make light that God had surprised him with his timing.  He knew that he was not in control.

Timing is all God’s.  Faith is handing over the control to God so that you can be in the moment.  Sometimes it is small pleasures. Sometimes it is huge smiles.  Sometimes it is unbearable pain.  Sometimes it is  dizzy, green, & sick for someone you love.  Always it is for God’s glory.

Sunday morning Trent shared his message with us.  This was the main scripture from Romans.  I added the emphasis in verse 6.

Romans 5:5-8

5 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. ³ Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵ And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

⁶ You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

In His time…