Sunday, January 29, 2017

10 Years

February 8 will be 10 years since Jan’s ‘promotion’ to heaven.  We all miss her but I know she is alive and well, enjoying her faith-earned rewards.  I still see the impact of her life here in the Philippines through the people she ministered to.  Many of them have gone on to become church leaders.  Others have started their own families and raise good children.

Of course, her greatest impact was in her own family.  Jan was never far from my mind last month at Martha’s wedding.  On the one hand, I know Jan would have enjoyed the event.  But as Jan said in her own words, “Don’t grieve for me.  I know where I’m going.”  I choose to believe that somehow Jan already knows the good things that has happened to her children and the good things yet to come.

One of the good things to come will begin tomorrow when I leave the country for 16 days.  Sara, Hannah, and I will meet in New Zealand for 2 weeks of adventure through Middle-earth (the setting for the fictional film, The Lord of the Rings).  We have been planning this vacation for about a year.  Hannah and I will do a backpacking trip along the Milford Track, acclaimed as one of the most beautiful hikes in the world winding its way through luscious forests, glaciered valleys, and majestic mountains.  We will pass one of the tallest waterfalls in the world.

At the end of the hike, Sara will join us at Milford Sound, said to be one of the most awesome natural wonders of the world where the ocean fingers its way inland between towering mountains and thundering waterfalls.  We will spend Hannah’s birthday kayaking on the blue waters of the sound as we enjoy God’s creation.  We will then travel to Christchurch, Wellington, Whakapapa National Park, and end at Rotorua where we will visit the Shire (another Lord of the Rings location).

Jan loved to travel and see new places.  So Sara, Hannah, and I will continue this family tradition of making precious memories that we can carry with us for a lifetime.  Jan also looked forward to the day when our family would grow.  We now have Andrea and Philip, plus one more.  David and Andrea are expecting their first child by the beginning of August!  A new generation who can benefit from Jan’s godly legacy.

1 comment:

Janet C Nash said...

Mark, we always enjoy your blog- we have been to several of the places that you will visit in NZ- we never back-packed or saw Milford Sound. We have been to Christchurch, Wellington, Rotorua, Auckland and a number of other places- we traveled to the southern part of the South Island - NZ is such a beautiful country. I have always thought that, if for some reason we could not live in the US, NZ would be my country of first choice. You will stand in awe at the beauty you see and experience. So glad two of your children can join you AND that you will become Lolo in August!!