Family

July 18, 2019 (Thursday)
The family is God’s idea. He had several goals in mind in creation. First, he made a place for created beings to live. He created a magnificent planet for them when He set into motion the creation of our marvelous, indescribable universe. He had already created angels, who did God’s will without question or pause. He wanted a being with whom he could communicate, and who could communicate with Him, so He created a human in his own image, which meant, according to a great professor I had, that this created being possessed mind, will and emotion. He created humans as male and female, so that they could reproduce their kind. He followed that plan for all his created beings.
In spite of the fact that sin entered the picture and one of the sons of the first couple killed the other, God persisted in allowing the process to continue until it produced families, groups of people related to each other in their genetic makeup. (As we know, today’s families may have been brought together for reasons other than genetics). Parents cared for children, and that growing love for each other became a characteristic of families.
Recently I have had a couple of encounters that brought into focus for me the importance of family. The children of my twin sisters, Elva and Melva, got together and planned a celebration of their 85th birthday in Houston. About 25 or 30 people were present and it was such a good feeling to be engulfed in such love. We enjoyed reminiscing about our past experiences and, in my case, since I’ve lived elsewhere most of my life, renewing my family commitments.
When I married, I was accepted by my wife Wanda’s family as one of their own. In the past week, I have experienced with them the loss of Wanda’s sister, Gwen. One sister, Ann, 89, remains, and of course, many from the generations of grandchildren and great grandchildren. I conducted the funeral service for Gwen. A few years ago I led in a service for her brother, Joe Lynn. I spoke about the family and was reminded once again that family is important. In 2007, I conducted the funeral service for Clarence Walston, Ann’s departed husband.
After the service for Gwen, we went in a procession 15 miles to Ferguson Cemetery where several family members are buried, and where I will be buried also. My name is on the marker beside Wanda’s name, and seeing it there gave me a little jolt of reality. As I stood at those graves, I could not help but think of the Scripture verse, “Absent from the body; present with the Lord.”
I thought also of the song that promises us that the family circle will not be broken and a better home–our Heavenly Home–awaits us. “When we all get to Heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be.”

The picture below was made at my twin sisters’ 85th Birthday party in June. As I name the people, “right” and “left” describe our perspective as we view the picture. Melva is the lady in blue in the chair, her son Bryan in the green shirt, and left of her is Elva, with her two daughters, Pamby and Patty behind her. Melva’s son, Eugene is behind his wife, Jo Ann, who is beside Patty. Directly behind Pamby is Pamby’s husband, Bill. To his right is Herman, Mary Ellen’s son. Herman’s wife, Erin, and their daughters,Sarah and Jenna, are in the front, seated on the floor next to Christopher Jones’ wife. Christopher, son of Patty and Harry, is on the back row, left of Bill. The couple are newly weds. Harry Jones is wearing an Astro shirt, and Mrs. Jones is standing in front of him. Children are scattered in the crowd. I am over on the left side of the picture with my sister Mary Ellen on the left, my daughter Dianna behind me, Elva’s son Cody next to her, and my brother Jimmy’s widow, Myrtle, to the right of me as we look at the photo. David and Janet Fake left just before a decision was made to make the photo. To enlarge the photos, right click on one and then select “view image.” Then press ctrl + to enlarge. Press again if you like.

The photo below was taken at the wedding of Wanda’s niece, Karen, to Jim Mooney. The year was 1999. This picture shows many from Wanda’s side of our family, as they appeared 20 years ago.