outward or inner appearance

A friend says--When the Gonger gongs, there is only one thing that matters! 

 AverageJoe says--Some folks have something about them that others don't have (i.e. some consider 'em sorta kinda off the beatin' path). 

I recently got this email from a friend.  I appreciated it very much.  You will see leadership qualities in him.  He took a risk (i.e. some of these situations don't end happy).  He also took a risk in sharing his experience with me.  You know you have to have a pretty good friend who you can trust in order to share something really good that you have done or something really bad you have done (i.e. someone who appreciates your actions).  Many folks think you are bragging about something good you are/were involved in and some can't keep their mouth shut about your misfortunes.  This person and I had a very nice telephone conversation about many of the feelings that aren't expressed in this story.  This person is a good person (i.e. my opinion).  He might be at iconic status!

I am sharing his story with his permission but changed the names.-----I'm trying to make a long story short. A little over 7 years ago a friend of mine who was in his late 70's came into my office and said to me. JoeBlow you know everything about me and you know where all my money is invested. Promise me that if anything ever happens to me you will take care of my wife. They had no children, his wife had two sisters but not close to her. He told me his wife's health was not very good and spent a lot of time in bed with depression. I told him not to worry I would make sure she was taken care of. Three weeks later he died. The first time I met his wife was when my client/friend was in Hospice and his wife called me to ask me to take her to see an attorney. Her words were "Mr JoeBlow this is  SusieQ, so and so’s wife; my husband said if I ever needed help to call you".  

That was 7 years ago, she died 4 weeks ago in a house fire. SusieQ was a small lady with big heart. She did not drive a car and very seldom would leave her house. I arranged for someone to do all her shopping, mow her lawn, clean her house, take care of the snow and handy man to do odd jobs. She would call me at least once a week with a question (she just needed someone to talk to). At times she would get very depressed but refused to see a doctor for anything. She did not go to church but would always send them money in her envelope. She would also send money to the church she was baptized in and where she was confirmed. She would send gift cards to people who needed help. Several times she would call me and ask me to bring a check to Hospice (Christmas day, Easter and Valentines day) it was usually $2,000.00 and she instructed me to tell them to buy special gifts for the people in Hospice.  

SusieQ had 2 special wishes: First that her house would go to her neighbor but they were not to know it until she was gone. They brought her mail to her house everyday, took care of her garbage, filled her bird feeder and walk around her house with the dog to make sure everything was ok. Second was that all of her personnel items would go to the shelter house. She also made me promise that I would clean the house before the neighbors came in to see it. SusieQ smoked 2 packs a day so you can image how the house and everything inside the house smelled. I did not say this to SusieQ but no one would want the stuff because of the smell. Over the last 18 months, SusieQ would call me more often and would always end the conversation with I just want my Lord to take me home.  

The fire that took SusieQ also did major damage to her house. Her 2 wishes came true. The neighbor got a house that was all fixed up and I can use the insurance money to buy brand new stuff for the shelter house. 

I hired a company to come in and take an inventory of all her personal items. I stopped there to see how things were going and one of the ladies took me into the garage to show me something. She pointed to the Bible and said she found it on the kitchen table.  SusieQ spent all her time at the table reading and watching TV. The lady looked at me and said "Mr. JoeBlow you are not going to believe this but everything in the kitchen was covered with ashes BUT the Bible it was perfectly clean. I said I believe you. SUSIEQ DID GO HOME  

I was asked to help SusieQ but she probably helped me more.

Joeblow 

P.S. she left Hospice $125,000, $25,000 to YMCA and $25,000 to her church 

ItchieBitchie says-- Faith is both blind and irrational.  Mark Twin joked that faith is "believing what you know ain't so."  H.L. Menchken, the American anti-supernaturalist critic of Christianity, once said, "Faith may be defined briefly as an illogical belief in the occurrence of the improbable."  Evolutionary biologist, professor, and familiar atheist Richard Dawkins said, "Faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence.  Faith is believe in spite of, even perhaps because of, the lack of evidence." 

Life after death?!  Dr. David Jereimah says--A well-known bumper sticker has been around for a few years that reads, "Life Is Hard. Then You Die." That bumper sticker might be found on a car driven by a nihilist ("there is no purpose"), a cynic ("life is a joke"), an existentialist ("life is absurd"), or a humanist ("it's every man for himself"). These worldviews agree: Death is unavoidable in the end, so what's the point?  Death is the great leveler -- it is appointed unto man once to die.  Without a solution for the problem of death, life can appear to be an exercise in futility. But that is the great message of the Christian Gospel! God has given us victory over our ultimate death through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ...But because of the Gospel, we can change the bumper sticker to read, "Life Is Hard. Then We Die and Live Forever!"

WildWilly says--Life starts with a bang and ends with a bang.  Who's the Banger? 

Robert Jastrow, director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies says--Maybe, just maybe, some folks who have lived by their faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream.  They have scaled the mountains of ignorance; they are about to conquer the highest peak; as they pull themselves over the final rock, they are greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries. 

Have a FUN day my friends unless you have other plans. (-:

erv

MyFriendJean says--Nothing is a waste that makes a memory.

PS  Broke out the Christmas mugs this week.  Sooooo what does that mean folks.  I like the feeling, I really do.  It makes me warm inside.  Maybe my inner appearance is different than my outward appearance.  MAYBE!