I drove down to mom and dad’s today for no other reason than to cry for my brother’s farewell. If I hadn’t listened to this inner prompting that i needed to finish something i would have missed a key opportunity to both experience and express the heart of God. I’m afraid there is nothing that expresses the depth of love one has for another quite like a heartfelt cry. and today i stood at the confluence of God’s love and my own natural affinity for my brother. It was a mix of many emotions that ordinarily would be too confusing to decipher and therefore left on the shelf…but God is slowly introducing me again to the person created in His image that is within me. This person cares deeply about others and is not afraid of vulnerability in showing it. Today i let it all out…and once i finished my heaving sobs God gave me help to express my emotions…that i felt the loss of his family not being able to share experiences with my own, that our children couldn’t play together, that i couldn’t be there as a regular support for him. I can’t understand why God has him walking a difficult road alone without much family or friendship support…but i trust God’s wisdom in shaping J-M’s life and character. I expressed the deep conviction i feel that God is delighted in J-M and wants him to know that with great assurance. Dad also felt need to confirm this and expressed the same thing in his own words, explaining that his father had never felt free to express his delight in his children verbally but dad wanted to say to us (his kids) that he delights in us. It was an important memory in our family history to mark. Last night was another memory (at Kendra’s suggestion) of worshipping together, the five of us plus Brian and a couple of the Thiessen kids. Worship and music within a family is a precious thing…a gift that ought to be picked up with greater frequency.