Boast Post II, With Tears; Romans 5-8

May the mumbling commence!

I write this with a heavy heart.  I learned today that my Uncle Bill is going from bad to worse.  It doesn’t look good for him.  Soon, Bill will close this chapter of life… and go on to a life without pain and suffering.

No more pain and suffering for Bill, who has battled Parkinson’s for years.  That is a great thing.  But his passing will be keenly felt by those who loved him well… his wife Kathy… his daughters Laura, Nikki, and Stephanie… his grandchildren… his siblings… and me.

I do a boast post this day with tears in my eyes.  Read the words from Romans chapter five (NLT):

We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us – they help us learn to endure.  And endurance develops strength of character in us, and character strengthens our confident expectation of salvation.  And this expectation will not disappoint us. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. (Verses 3-5)

We rejoice in our problems and trials… we boast in them.  They build endurance in us for the marathon of life that we live… a marathon that is at its core a relay race. 

And endurance strengthens our character, which strengthens our confident expectation of salvation.  I know that my Redeemer lives.  I know that by Uncle Bill will receive salvation from his hurt and pain. 

I know these things even as I feel the hurt and pain welling up inside of me.  I wish I could be there, physically, so I could hug my mother and my aunt and my cousins.  I wish I could be there as each of us in our own way lets go of the life that Bill has led…

It is hard.  But our expectation for salvation will not disappoint us.  God dearly loves us.

Fill our hearts with your love, O Lord!  I know God will!  I boast this even as I see the ones I love suffer and even as I suffer along with them.

Enough mumbling (boasting) for now…

Peace Out