Tombstones

Personal retreats are a must in this line of work. I need to pull away for a few days, 2 or 3, just to let all of the pieces of ministry fall to the earth and settle a bit. It really is quite amazing what gets moved farther up the priority list and what gets left behind as just not that important right now. I took my retreat at Eagle Bay Camp about 45 minutes from Salmon Arm and about 2 and half hours north of Peachland. It was beautiful, it was quiet, it was restful, it was relaxing and I got quiet enough to listen to my heart, my mind slowed down and the Lord was graciously communicating with me.
On the way to the camp there is a little country church with a grave yard attached to it. So I decided that a part of my time there would include a trip to the grave yard to walk among the tombstones. To read the inscriptions and wonder about the stories of the lives of those who are now gone on. I think I was in the right frame of mind for this with news of Edna's passing and also the passing of a friend of ours here in Kelowna . There were some very old tombstones there, even a few from the mid to late 1800's. There were all ages represented but most of the ages were well into their 80's and 90's. There were two that caused me to stop and ponder. The first was a double grave site. With a young man in his late twenties buried beside a little boy that was 6 months old. The boys grave had a little truck and another little toy sitting at the head of the grave. I wondered how this happened. Perhaps a car accident or maybe a boating accident? I wondered about the young mother and wife who lost so much that day. This grave brought the value of my family and the importance of investing my very best into it into clear focus. Then I moved on to a site that seemed out of place. Up until this grave all the markers had the date of birth and the date of death on them. This was the only one that didn't. It was also a double grave, one side, the husband's side, had both the DOB and the DOD on it but the wife's side only had the date of birth and a dash followed by a blank space. Two things struck me. The importance of the dash. Life seems like a dash, a breath or as scripture says a vapor. It brought me to a fresh desire to make my dash count, to make it worthy of the gospel that has saved me. To make it count for my wife and kids, my brothers and sister(s) and their kids, my mom(s) and my dad(s). Then the blank spot signified that her story was still unfolding, that it had not yet finished, there were still chapters to be written. I spent the next hour just asking the Lord for fresh new life and vison for the future chapters of my own life that are yet to be written. I asked that they be filled with love and joy and full of adventure that comes from serving such a great and awesome God. The God of the living and the dead!
If you've never taken a stroll among some tombstones I would recommend it to you. Hanging out with dead people can really make you appreciate your life!