March 1 - “North of …”

Our big journey yesterday was in some ways a sad one. My cousin Julie, who lived in Spring and whose family was always our go-to contact up there, died earlier in the week. She was just a tad younger than me, so the two of us became close. And we have kept up with each other through the years, though not as closely as we should have. 

On a positive note, she was definitely a believer. She and her husband were active members of a church in Spring up until he died and she started traveling. I know her kids and grandkids will miss her. 

The funeral was in Tomball, north of Spring, north of Houston. See where I’m going with this? It took us two hours to get there. We made it with 17 minutes to spare. 

My older brother Jay was there. As was Julie’s brother Larry. They helped make up the total of five relatives that I recognized (and in one case, only after Jay coached me behind the scenes). But hey, I don’t think they knew me, either. We did go to the graveside service as well. Gave us a chance to chat for a few more minutes with Jay and with Wil, Julie’s oldest son. 

Now the drive home was somewhat more hectic than that going. We left the cemetery around 3:45. And that put us gliding through downtown Houston at about 4:30 or so. Gotta love that rush hour traffic. 

In spite of the major slowdown, we made it through without too much difficulty. Except maybe a tiny taste of road rage. We then made our way to Nathan and April’s. See, we had the foresight to toss a change of clothes into the car so we could go straight to Cailyn’s soccer game. And we were so glad we did. The Good Gals won big. 6-0. That’s kind of outrageous for a soccer game. And Cailyn played one of the best games we have ever seen her play. Proud of you, Cailyn. 

Revelation‬ ‭7‬:‭9‬-‭10‬ ‭ says, After this I looked, and there was a vast multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language, which no one could number, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were robed in white with palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: Salvation belongs to our God, who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!

Father, please be with Julie’s family and walk with them through their next few weeks. Amen.