I’m glad that’s over…

Today was a day of honoring two of our young men who are well on their way to becoming sober young men of Biblical proportions. 

I’ve told you about Christian before.  He left today for his mission school and then off to Thailand.  The elders did a prayer of commissioning for him in the morning service and the congregation took up a generous offering. 

For lunch we celebrated Bo’s graduation from home school and a farewell as he leaves for Prairie Bible College in Canada.

I first met Bo on the other side of the counter at pizza lunch at Temple.  A young man who had a personality that said “Will charm for food.”  He loved pizza but his single mom never signed him up for it.  He was always oozing with charm whenever he’d step up to the counter… from the way he would greet me, to the way he would come up with some hard luck story to try and weaken my resolve (I wasn’t buying the “My mother never feeds me” story).

It was a long time before I realized that I had known his dad.  Bo was too young to remember him.  He died in a farming accident when Bo was just a few months old.  Life has not always been kind to Bo.  But, he loves the Lord and is trying to find his way to knowing Him more.

He wasn’t supposed to go to Bible school.  He was heading to college up north instead.  Just before he left for a recent canoe trip (which is quite a God story in itself) he announced to his mom that he had changed his mind.  He would not be going to school. 

She was furious with him, but he would not be there to discuss it.  While he was gone, another canoeist kept bugging him about the Wilderness program at Prairie.   Bo kept putting the girl off, but she kept persisting.  Once he got home, he looked into it and will be off on Thursday, much to mom’s relief. 

…let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. 1 Thess 5:6

Bo and Christian are off to a good start and I’m excited for them.

I forgot to mention that my mother-in-law turned 87 on Wednesday and I think she might even weigh her weight now.  She gained 4 pounds at her last checkup.  She’s hoping for enough improvement so she can release all the help that Cindy has hired to help with her care.  That isn’t going to happen, but don’t tell.

Meanwhile, Cindy’s 45 year old brother died Wednesday of cancer.  He was a man who never learned how to be sober.  He was only 5 when his mother died of the same disease.  When his dad remarried, he felt lost and did some foolish things to dull the pain and loss that he felt. 

But, it’s how you finish that counts.  Since he’s been in hospice, Cindy has spent hours with him and they had some great talks.  She explained to him all about God’s love and heaven and who would be three waiting for him.  When death came he was at peace and had put all his trust in God.  He’s in heaven now getting to know his mom.  How exciting for both of them…  

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