A Three-Fold Cord

I've been pondering the levels or spheres of attachment this last week.  My side of the family held a reunion on Sunday at my uncle's house.  My paternal grandparents, who had only two sons, and who have been gone from this earth for thirty and fifty years, currently have 99 descendants to the fourth generation, most of whom gathered to celebrate - in the past, we have gotten together for Christmas, but now it's too hard with so many married grandchildren, so we're going to try for an annual summer party.

Astonishingly, all eighteen families retain a vibrant Christian faith.  Therefore, when we shared an update about Joel's situation, we knew that everyone present has been praying for him and for us.  In fact, most of them have put Joel on their church prayer chains or have mentioned him to their groups of friends.  And most have posted messages, emailed or even visited.  

The three spheres of attachment I'm identifying are 1) family; 2) friends, and 3) Christian family.  With my dad's side of the family, we share two of the three levels; we are family and we are Christian family.   That gives them an extra incentive to care for us.  With some of them, we are also friends.  The triple bond is the strongest of all.  

I notice that people who have only one bond with us -  family members who aren't believers or with whom we don't spend much time, friends who aren't believers, or fellow Christians who aren't family or friends - sympathize and wish us well, but those with two bonds are more involved.  And those with the triple bond - especially our siblings, with whom we share blood, faith and friendship - do things like change their basement office into an extra bedroom so that I can have my own space to stay in (this is what the Jones family just did).   We're so thankful for all the people the Lord has bonded to us.

Old Friends are the Best Friends

What a wonderful weekend! Shelley & Jon, my college roommate and her husband, came from Friday evening til Sunday afternoon and we talked nonstop the whole time. We would start on a topic - say, one of the kids and how he liked college - and pretty soon we'd covered government regulations, our dreams for housing someday, and a friend's husband's cancer! Or some such...

On Saturday Shelley & I went around to some realtor's open houses, just to see what's in the area for when we eventually move. Oh, the beautiful things some people have and do. The vaulted ceilings; sliding glass doors; stone counter tops; sitting areas with fireplaces; tile floors; desk nooks, and in one house, a greenhouse right in the middle of the living space with skylights - all were inspirational. It makes me excited to move, and wondering whether we'll buy a place that's ready to move into, or do our own remodeling or redecorating.

Saturday evening Jon & Shelley took Pete & me to the local sit-down Chinese restaurant. Yum yum yum! We had 4 dishes - one shrimp, one pork, one chicken, one beef - and even the spicy ones weren't too spicy for me, so we all ate some of each, and egg rolls, wontons and shrimp appetizers besides. Rolling out the door, we laughed and talked some more.

Sunday morning the congregation was in top form - I rarely hear the singing as loudly as I did yesterday. We had a guest speaker who has been to Honduras 22 years in a row. He's a carpenter and had great stories to tell of God's provision. He felt the Lord wanted him to build a certain building early on, which would cost $3000 that Alan didn't have. He went to a builder's convention and won the grand door prize of $3000 plus round-trip airfare to anywhere in the world. Again, inspirational! Afterwards we thoroughly enjoyed a delicious potluck.

After our friends left and we had a nap, David called and we talked for an hour and a half about his life and (girl) concerns. We'll see him in a couple of weeks when we go down to Augie to watch the Viking Varieties talent show, in which he and 3 others will sing "Java Jive." That's a special treat for us, because we used to sing it with Pete's brother & wife, Tom & Judy. In fact, we won the County Fair talent contest and went to the State Fair with it in 1998.

We relaxed the rest of the day, finishing off with "Tangled" - what an excellent movie with great themes and lessons! - and an episode of the old TV show, "Star Trek: The Next Generation." Altogether an extremely fun weekend.