“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes.”

 

                                                                                    -- Charles R. Swindoll

 

 

 

 

 

Today would have been our son Nathaniel’s 21^st birthday.  He was born December 19, 1988 and died January 6, 1989.  Today would’ve been the day I would have taken him to get his “first” beer.  We’ve been so blessed.  I never understood when I read the book of Job from the Bible how, after the deaths of the righteous Job’s children at the beginning of the book, it could be said at the end of the book that God “restored” Job.  What kind of restoration do you give a parent that loses a child.  Without adequately being able to put it in words, I have some understanding of how God restored Job.  That’s because he’s restored us.  We had two daughters (Natasha, 18, and Clarissa, 16) who we wouldn’t have had but for the tragedy with Nathaniel.  We would have stopped at one girl (Miranda, who was 4 at the time) and one boy.  Tash and C have blessed us each and every day of their lives.  The full restoration comes some day – long into the future – when there will be a glorious homecoming with the Lord Jesus and we’ll all be together again:  Nathaniel, Debbie, Miranda, Natasha, Clarissa and me.  That’s a blessing.  That’s restoration.  21 years ago I put on the headstone the epitaph: “The flowers return in the spring, but not the joy”.  That’s how you feel when you lose a loved one.  Thanks to Jesus, the joy is in full flourish, with or without the flowers. 

 

Debbie, Tash, C and I were at Nathaniel’s gravesite today and said a prayer of thanks for him and for the family of another dear baby lost – Casey Adams.  Nathaniel and Casey’s graves are only about 40 feet apart in the cemetery’s Garden of Angels.  We saw that someone in the last year or so has continued to place various decorations, toys, manger scenes on Nathaniel’s headstone.  Don’t know who it is, but Deb and I are warmed by the fact that God has sent an angel to let us know that He and his special messenger haven’t forgotten our little boy.   Hope to know who the kind folks are someday so we can thank them heartily.