Scripture Reading

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

 - 1 Corinthians 13:13

Thought of the Day

     God is great.  He not only created this spectacular place for us to live, He also created amazing people for us to get to know and love.  We all have been blessed with knowing some extraordinary people.   I have a lot of blessings in my life.  This past weekend I had the great pleasure of remembering one most special extraordinary young lady.  Her name was Jennifer.  I met her when she was either fifteen or sixteen.  She started coming to a Bible Study we had at the church.  About the second time that she came, she coughed on and off the whole time.  I made a comment to her that I was sorry that she was getting sick.  Jennifer smiled at me and told me that she had Cystic Fibrosis.  I quickly learned a lot about C.F. and about Jennifer. 

     After she was born, and her parents heard the discouraging news from the doctors, they could have lost hope and given up.  But they did not.  They did all they could to let Jennifer live as normal of a life as possible. But you know, Jennifer's life was not normal. A small reason was because of her C.F. The main reason her life was not normal was because Jennifer was not normal. She was one of the most extraordinary people I have ever met. Jennifer was most amazing. Even though her disease was ever present and such a part of her life, she refused to let it be who she was as a person. Her love for others was constant and a major part of her life, as was her faith and love of Christ. Her smile was never too far away, as was her unbelievable laugh. As I got to know her over the years, I never saw her give up hope or lose her determination. I never saw her lose her love of life in all its abundance and glory. Yes, I said abundance and glory. You see, in spite of suffering with cystic fibrosis, Jennifer lived in great abundance. She understood life and love to its fullest. She never lost sight of hope. Jennifer touched the lives of all who knew her in great abundance. I know all this is true because of how she made a difference in my life.  I loved Jennifer and I know that she loved me. We laughed together. We cried together. Jennifer taught me a lot about living. She also taught me a lot about dying.  Sweet Jennifer died just over seven years ago. I had the great privilege of being with her and her loved ones when she died. As hard as it was to see her earthly life end, I knew that it was time. It was time for Jennifer to leave this place that was filled with pain and disease for her and go to that place where there is no more pain. She has crossed over that threshold into that place where there is no more Cystic Fibrosis. Jennifer is now with her God whom she loved so very much.

     I learned so much from Jennifer over the years, and I hope that now you can learn from her too. I hope that you will live life every day in great abundance. I hope that you will face each day with determination and hope. I wish for you the love that sweet Jennifer had for her family and her friends and her God. The apostle Paul writes so beautifully in 1st Corinthians the importance of faith, hope, and love. He must have been thinking of my good friend, Jennifer Board.

Prayer

Lord, Thank You for the life of Jennifer Board.  Amen.

P. S.  This past weekend I had the great honor of being with Jennifer's family and friends as her ashes became part of an eternal memorial reef.  Her parents had been waiting for seven years to find that perfect place for Jennifer's ashes and they decided that a memorial reef was the perfect answer.  Jennifer loved the water and got to swim with dolphins as a youth.  On Friday, her ashes were combined with a special cement mix and became a part of a large concrete piece with openings and rough surfaces to provide a habitat for sea life.  On Monday, I had the privilege of going out eleven miles offshore of Galveston, Texas to place "Jennifer" as a part of an existing fishing and diving reef.  As we participated in the process, we all knew that Jennifer just had to be smiling down on what was going on.  It was a special time for sure.