Faithful
Tue 18 Oct 2011 Filed in: My Life | Grief Notes
I had wondered why I was traveling to California. When I bought the ticket, I knew why; I was going to the fall adult conference at Mount Hermon. It would be good, though probably not quite as good as the Creating a Legacy conference a couple of months ago. At that conference I had wondered if the scheduling would impact registration for the fall conference, but nobody else seemed concerned. Then I got the letter: The fall conference had been cancelled due to low registration. It would have been good, I thought, to have that information before I bought a non-refundable airline ticket.
For the last two weeks, I waffled. Should I go and visit family, or should I pay the exorbitant change fee and go somewhere else. After all, I’ve never been to Hawaii. The Scot in me won out - just use the ticket. So there I was this morning at SeaTac, wondering why I was flying.
Just before I boarded, my cell phone rang. It was my daughter calling to pass on a sad message. Pastor Wiley Hoyle, who had married Joan and me, had died. I called his wife Cleo in Santa Rosa, an hour and a half from where I will be staying, His death was not a surprise; cancer and hospice care had become a familiar part of life. But I know too well that the awareness of the impending death of a loved one does not diminish the pain of the loss. I can sense what his family is experiencing because I have been there, and the loss of a friend scratches at the scars of my own grief.
I recall years ago talking to Chuck Swindoll, who summed up Wiley Hoyle in one word: faithful. The word fits.
The plane will be landing soon. I hope to give Cleo a hug on this trip. And I no longer wonder why I am going to California.
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