The rumors of my death have been 'greatly' exaggerated!" Mark Twain

This is an article I wrote in May 2006 and felt it was worth bringing to the surface again. Such a blessing needs to be shared more than one time:

Tonight I wanted to take a moment to share a very interesting and "heartwarming" discussion I had last night with my 10 year-old Granddaughter. Her and I were on our way to Wal-Mart to pick up some late-night snacks when she said to me "Papa, can I talk to you a little bit about your cancer?" I said, "Certainly, dear. What do you want to know?" She said she didn't really understand all that had been said but knew that cancer was very serious and wanted to know if I was going to die anytime soon. I tried my best to explain this process to a 10 year-old little girl by explaining that the death of a person is very much a part of life and that if the Lord tarries, all of us will, at some point experience death. I told her not to be worried about it, because I felt that it would not be anytime soon and that I was, based on my faith in God, very prepared and ready to go to be with Jesus, whenever it was His will. I helped her understand that I would be up in heaven at that point, and mostly I would be helping Jesus, as we prepared our place for each of my loved ones as they came home to be with the Lord.

My granddaughter is very intelligent and a born-again believer in Jesus Christ as her Lord. So it didn't seem unnatural to have this discussion with her and, it seemed to be a very short discussion. Seems she just wanted to hear about my comfort in my own words. What a precious little child. "Out of the mouth of babes, right?" Anyway, as we brought the discussion to a close she was sure to tell me, "Papa, no matter what happens in the future, you will always be, right here in my heart," as she patted herself on the chest. Trying desperately to hold back the tears of joy, I said simply, "And, sweetheart, you will always be in my heart, too!"

Just one more reason to believe that I am, indeed, the luckiest and MOST BLESSED person to walk the face of the earth. God is so good, and it seems that sometimes, His angels even have "flesh & bone." What a blessing...Dave