MY FRIEND GENEVIEVE

Monday, October 23, 2006

Genevieve passed away last Friday. She was 95 years old. Her last days were spent in a nursing home. I visited her there but my memories of her will not be there---but at the church she loved. Genevieve loved God, her family, the church, the Suns basketball team, her friends, Phoenix—the list goes on and on. She was loved in return.

We will gather at the church building Thursday afternoon to say “Good-bye” to a dear friend. For me, I have already said “good-bye” to Genevieve. Years ago she left Lincoln Heights Christian Church to go live in a convalescence home on the west side of town. But I retained in my mind the memory of her sitting over to the right side of the pulpit and about three or four rows back from the front.

Genevieve was my encourager and I was always pleased to look up from the pulpit and see her there. Someday I will look up and see her not at my right side but at His. What a day that will be!