He never said the way would be
A straight and easy one for me.
He never meant that I should rest
When work is what I do the best.
He never planned the best there is
For me without my hand in His.
And never once did He ordain
I'd taste the joy without the pain.
He never told me I would find
Contentment without peace of mind.
He did not issue a decree
Compelling time to wait for me.
But He has promised life beyond
This fragile earth I walk upon.
And through the darkness of the night
To be the Way, the Truth, the Light.

~Author Unknown~

On January 5, 1995 my father suffered a massive stroke and was hospitalized. When he became stablized at the hospital and we brought my mother back home, we picked up his Bible, which he had been reading just before the stroke happened. In it we found the above poem written on a piece of paper in his own handwriting. We don't know where Dad got this poem - we believe he copied it from something he had read. It's possible he composed it, but we don't believe he did that. Dad read his Bible completely through every year, and had finished it early in December 1994, then had started over again with the New Testament. He read all the way up through the 7th Chapter of Revelation, then closed his Bible, got up from his chair to go to bed, had the massive stroke and fell in the floor. It was a blessing to me to open Dad's Bible and read the last passage that he had read that day. Revelation 7 is so very beautiful, I feel you would be blessed as I was, if you will read it. If you do, you will understand my feeling of gratitude that this was the last passage Dad read while he was still able. Dad went through medical care and therapy for over three months, all the while experiencing more strokes and heart attacks of differing degrees of severity. He was transferred to Palliative Care (hospice) because his physicians believed he would not live more than another week or two. Dad lived another 15 1/2 months in Palliative Care before the Lord took him home to Heaven. I have written more about this on other pages in this website. If you feel interested in reading more about Dad you may go HERE and read about the reason we began our nursing home ministry. Or perhaps you would like to know what my Dad was like, and if you will go HERE you will get acquainted with him.