My dear cousin is now with the Lord

Less than three weeks ago, a very dear cousin, Bill, died with cancer. Through the years of our childhood, I wasn't able to be with him very often, but the times I was are so special to me. He lived in Tennessee. His father was a farmer and the whole family had to work very hard and quite often had to do without. My Aunt Ruth was a wonderful Christian woman that loved her family and made sacrifices for them. I only have good memories of her, her laughter and her love.

Each time I have gotten together with my cousins we have told the same funny stories over and over and laughed like it was the first time the stories were told. My first memories of being with them is when they lived on a farm only about a mile from Shiloh National Park. A battle was fought there during the war between the states. I always played with Bill, David, and Tommy. Bill is my age. Once when we were roaming the woods, we found a dead bird. We decided to make a graveyard for it and anything else that we could find. There seemed to never be an end to the things we found to do outside and in the barn. At night we would put up a sheet in a doorway, stand in the lighted room and act out stories by using our shadows on the sheet. The other room would be dark. Aunt Ruth would make the best butter and sugar biscuits.

One other visit stands out for me. They had moved to another farm. Mother and my Aunt had gone somewhere, so the four of us went to the back of their farm where there was a small creek, with banks about 6 feet high (at least they seemed that high). There were grape vines hanging from the trees on the banks and we decided we should swing across the creek. Since there seemed to be a little danger to it, we convinced Tommy (who was the youngest) that he should go first. Finally he agreed. Because he hadn't held up high enough on the grapevine, he wound up getting wet. Seeing that he was alright, the rest of us started swinging. What fun we had. Because it was such a hot day it didn't take our clothes long to dry. I think we purposely would let ourselves be drug in the water. Later we found out from Aunt Ruth that there were poisonious snakes that swim in that little creek. The Lord does take care of us.

This past October I was able to see Bill after close to 40 years. We were at my Aunt Lessie's 88th birthday party. It was a precious time for me to renew our friendship and laugh once again about old times. Bobbie, his sister and David, a brother, were also there. How I thank the Lord for the comfort of knowing that one day I will see Bill again. My heart does ache for his family that misses him so. Aren't you thankful that our Hope is in the Lord!