Day 18

Jonathan reads to the kids every night from one of Holt's bible story books.  I try to listen most nights when I am not busy with Jane Cannon.  It is nice that these books introduce old testament heroes to Holt and Harper Ann, but I pray that they realize that Abraham was a doubter and David a murdered and Moses reluctant and Samuel impatient and the list goes on.  My point being that they were just as needy and broken as we are and God used them.  I pray that I can teach them this at the appropriate time and in an appropriate way.  In the meantime I am thankful that I, like them, have been redeemed.

Isaiah 1:18

“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord:
though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool.”

Today I am thankful...

181. That my sins are washed clean

182. for a table full of little boys who can't decide if they would rather eat or play.

183. that I was able to secure Willie Nelson tickets

184. for Fishing with DD

185. For a toybox full of artillery - Holt has enough weapons to arm a small country

186. for my 2 kids napping in my lap

187. For Johnson Grass and Holt telling us not to tell grandmom that he cut his finger because she would want to clean it and stuff (Holt is not so thankful for Johnson grass - he said he couldn't figure out why God put it there)

188. A day and dinner with Grandmom and DD

189. Riding the Ranger

190. Amanda Cossey - Today the Junior Auxiliary of New Albany held a 5k in memory of a dear friend and Phi Mu sister, Amanda Cossey Price.  I, like so many others, am immeasurably thankful to have known her and had a taste of her friendship. Amanda was beautiful in a way that put everyone at ease. She was kind and gentle and strong and a litany of other adjectives that are too flippantly used that they don’t do her justice. It was impossible to know Amanda without loving her and feeling better for knowing her. I felt called to the familiar verses in Matthew 5 and the Sermon on the Mount in the wake of her death. When I met Amanda I was not a Christian, although I thought that I was. Over the course of my first semester in college I came to understand that I wasn’t going to heaven because of anything I did, or any amount of good or righteous behavior, but because of Christ’s love for sinners, for me. I read the Word and was blessed by godly men and women who prayed for me and shepherded me and led me to Christ. Amanda’s unabashed love for the Lord had a profound effect on me both before and after my heart was changed. She had a gentle joy that erupted from her smile and she was always smiling. Her warm and happy nature was so infectious that it made me want what she had, and what she had was comfort in Christ and who she was in Him. It is in Matthew that Jesus tells Christians to be salt and light. That is what Amanda was, salt and light. Salt’s value isn’t in itself, but in that it brings out the flavors in the food to which it is added. That is what Amanda did, bring out the best in those she was around. It was impossible to hold on to cynicism and bitterness around her. We are all better for having known her. She brought light into the lives of all she met and I count my knowing her amongst my blessings. It is hard in the immediate aftermath of tragedy to make sense of things, but Christ’s love for us is great and in trusting Him there is understanding. Death is the unnatural consequence of Adam’s sin, but with Christ it lost its power.

Matthew 5:8 says Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Amanda was incredibly kind and loving and death had no power over her. I know no one more pure of heart and I know she is with Him, basking in the unfathomable glory of Heaven. Amanda was a taste of that glory for me on earth and for that I’m grateful. Our loss is heaven’s gain and because of her witness death has lost his power. I owe my life beyond this life, in part to her.

I loved seeing all photos of my phi mu sisters running and walking for Amanda.  

Bonus thanks:

Lynyrd Skynyrd