Wonderful Visit

A few weeks ago, we had a guest speaker at church and he talked about Philip and the Ethopian Eunuch from Acts 8. His point was that Philip GOT UP IN the chariot and rode with the man for a while. During the ride, Philip taught him the gospel of Christ and the Eunuch was baptized. Then he made the application that we each have a chariot that people come and ride in for a while and they teach us before moving on. Some people may teach you what NOT to do, and other will inspire you and show you the way to please God and salvation.

Jason and I had a wonderful discussion about the chariot riders of our lives. Many names came to mind from childhood and college years. For me, the first one outside of my family was Nelda and Ron. Nelda and my mom were super close when I was little and we were together all the time. She is one of those ladies who does SO much work for the Lord, but no one sees her behind the scenes efforts. I can remember visiting the "little old ladies" with Mom and Nelda and making all kinds of crafty things for people of the congregation. She taught me so much in my younger years... and I am so grateful for her influence on me!

Well, a few weeks ago, Nelda and Ron came to town for a visit! It was so wonderful to get to visit with them again. And this time, another chariot rider came too... Don and Kathy. Kathy was another friend of Mom's and she was also my first grade Bible Class teacher. We were the "banana bunch" and the room was decorated with monkeys and bananas. She made a ceramic banana for each of us that held 8 crayons. It was so cool and I still have it! I had not seen Don, Kathy or thier daughter/my former baby-sitter since about 1992. It was an afternoon of MUCH laughter and funny stories!

Here are the men folk... Dad, Jason, Don and Ron
And the women folk... Me, Mom, Nelda, Kathy and Kristi.
When they left our house, my heart was overflowing! It made me so happy for them to get to see the boys and to hear all about their families too. It was a taste of heaven - being re-united with those who have gone on before us. Chill bumps of excitement!!! And at church the next morning, with these old friends, it made me think even deeper about the bond of Christ. I thought about all of our Christian friends across the country who took the bread and wine that same morning. And it got me thinking about heaven again... how glorious it will be to all the united again, singing praises to God in the land of no sorrow!