Knowing (08/13/2024)

Yesterday, I wrote about my time spent with a young man and his father at church. I wrote about the young man’s joy in sharing his faith and his special cross. I also wrote about giving my personal pocket cross to the father. And that spurred a reader and friend to write to me and let me know what has become of the pocket cross I shared with her years ago. And her message to me came through loud and clear, knowing we are not alone makes a huge difference.

She wrote to me because she wanted me to know what started the day I shared my personal cross with her in Flagstaff, Arizona. When I gave it to her, I asked her, when the time was right, to pass it along to someone who needed it. And that day did come. She shared it with a neighbor who had lost her husband after more than six decades of marriage. She said the neighbor pulls it out and shows it to her whenever they meet.

After giving away the cross to her neighbor, she bought another, and she carries it. One day she may find herself giving it away, too. She wanted me to know that the gift of the cross and the gift of loving kindness is still happening.

We walk by faith, we are buoyed by hope and fueled by love. Knowing we do not go alone can make all the difference in the world. There is no place we can go that the Loving LORD is not there. At times, it helps us when another is there also, one who points to the presence of the LORD and to the love that is because of the LORD.

As we continue on our journeys, let us remember this day and all days that the LORD calls us to companion one another along the way. Let us seek to be there for one another out of love for our LORD and one another. It’s the way the journey is supposed to happen.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.