Today is a sad (and happy) day for me.....

I'm so glad it's not good bye....just see ya later! I miss you so much. Sometimes it seems like it's been forever since we had our last lunch-date.....and other times it seems like yesterday!

It was a terrible end to an April Fools day! It was after our Saturday night service at church, I got a call about 10PM (calls at 10PM are seldom good news!) and one of the guys in our Small Group at church had to tell me you were dead! How could it be, you were so young....had so many things that I thought you still needed to do....but God called you home. Two years....not so long ago, but it seems like a lifetime! I miss you my dear, dear friend................

See you later............


And it would be wrong of me not to mention Jerry.....the first guy I ever had a date with.....also died on April Fools day....but with his sense of humor, he would have thought the joke was on us!

I only found out about his death about six months ago. He and my best girlfriend from 'the neighborhood' got a divorce a few years ago, and I've lost track of them. I was doing some searches in the National Cemetery that my dad is buried in and there Jerry was.


STEDMAN, GERALD A
SGT US AIR FORCE
VIETNAM
DATE OF BIRTH: 12/01/1947
DATE OF DEATH: 04/01/2005
BURIED AT: SECTION MC SITE 229
JEFFERSON BARRACKS NATIONAL CEMETERY

See ya later my good friend, I'm so glad we talked about God, and I know you knew Jesus. So, again, see you later, my dear friend.....


If you don't understand my comment on it being a happy and sad day, I will explain. Being a Christian, I believe that my friends (who knew Christ as their Savior) are in heaven. Why, because when we choose to give our life to Christ, He gives us eternal life. And this one is in Paradise. I always tell people to close their eyes and clear their minds, then say one word..............paradise! Not scarry a bit! God is preparing a place for me that is greater than anything I can imagine. That's pretty awesome. So I mourn for myself and the times I could be having with them.....but their troubles are over.....paradise! If anything, I should be jealous! My loss, but Heaven is a lot more beautiful than it was before!