"You see that turkey feather? There's an Indian cave up there."

     Sitting on my aunt's porch, a warm summer evening, what will likely be my last cookout stateside for the summer, the conversation flowing around me like a bubbling mountain stream, I think of all the things I love about my family.  There are so many things that make me smile when I think of these people I hold so dear.

     Little Lindsay's sass with her brothers.
     Uncle Jimmy's knowledge about snakes and spiders and planting flowers.
     The way Grandma teases Pap.
     Pap's laugh when Zach does his Forrest Gump impression.
    
     Even in those precious, beautiful moments with my family - those moments where, for just a little while, nothing's wrong - I am unsettled.  More than unsettled, I am grieved.  Those seemingly perfect moments are ephemeral and quickly pass away.  I visit long-established graveyards on Sunday afternoon, according to tradition, and am reminded that life itself quickly passes away.  Before we know it, the show's over, and - as it stands now - not all of these people I love so deeply will enjoy God forever.

     There is anguish in my heart as I long for each one in my family to make Christ their treasure, to put away an empty way of life and trade it for the life of one redeemed.  We need God so desperately, though we may not always realize it.  Christ pulls us from the depths of guilt and condemnation, and His spotless righteousness is credited to us if only we'll accept the offer.  Greater than any hero we could ever dream up, He saves us in every way.  Not only are we spared the penalty for sin (as if this weren't enough!), but we are blessed beyond measure with a hope and joy unspeakable in the One who is unshakeable and given a life of abundance and freedom from sin.  As a slave of Christ - how Paul so aptly described himself - we can discover and fulfill our purpose as humans:  the worship and enjoyment and praise and glorification of God!  My heart yearns for every soul I know to find this true and treasure Him.

"Remember your Creator in the days of your youth;
before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say,
'I find no pleasure in them' -
before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars grow dark,
and the clouds return after the rain;
Remember Him - before the silver cord is severed, and the golden bowl is broken;
before the pitcher is shattered at the spring, and the wheel broken at the well,
and the dust returns to the ground it came from,
and the spirit returns to God who gave it."
[Ecclesiastes 12:1+6-7]