S ix years ago I had just moved to Edinburgh and was in the midst of helping a missions team host an Ultimate Frisbee Tournament in hopes of reaching kids at a nearby local high school. The Lord put Agnes on my path, and we began to have amazing conversations over coffee about life, decisions, the God who loves us past, present and future, hope and peace, joy and redemption. She began to follow Jesus and I wept tears of joy at her baptism.

It was an incredible privilege.

When Agnes decided to come visit for this time, surrounding Baby Blake’s arrival, I’d hoped in my mind it’d be like old times — we could do Bible studies again together, and sit long over coffee and chat, and I could think of lots of important and helpful questions to ask and encourage her continually.

But somewhere between becoming a mother and having a baby and then having another, those old times weren’t quite possible to resurrect. And I occasionally felt guilty about that…feeling like I didn’t have the capacity to pour out as I did before.

Agnes wrote a beautiful parting note that she left behind on her bed for us to find after she’d been dropped off at the airport today. And she talked about how blessed she’d been to be here, and I thought about how blessed we’d been to have her. And I realised that there is so much to be said for the joy that can come in sharing life. Even if you can’t squeeze in a moment for structured study, or set aside an hour for theological training.

Perhaps that’s why the Lord instructed the children of Israel to share the law with their children like this:

These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. {Deut. 6: 6-9}

The Truth is a part of life. And I’m starting to think we can gain more by living and breathing and walking and eating together in truth, than perhaps by just gathering for an hour on a Wednesday evening with structured agenda, or even on a Sunday morning with a set schedule. {Though I do think those things are important and have value, too!}

We talk about it as we live it.

I digress with these thoughts, but more than anything, the beautiful thing I am celebrating this evening is how God can just bless and bless and bless. Agnes was blessed to be here. We were very blessed to have her. The Bear was blessed so much by her presence. Even Blakey was blessed with one more set of hands to cuddle him. And to God be the glory — He pours out of His cup, we pour into one another’s, this way and that way, loving and sharing, and somehow we are all overflowing.

Though the Dassiesfontein photos aren’t yet sorted, I do have one to share with you, of Agnes with our thank you gift to her, which we found on that adventure:

We said goodbye at the airport this afternoon, but we know in the Lord it is always rather a “see you later.”

And in the meantime, my heart rejoices with a simple song of praise for all this goodness:

To God Be the Glory.

Amen.

xCC