He's with Jesus...

This isn't a normal post- it's mainly for me to reflect and remember--

About 2 weeks ago we had an elderly friend of ours admitted to the hospital with abdominal pain-- long story short, several CT scans were done, emergency surgery, etc- and he was on the mend (considering all his body went through).  Last night he died.

Yes, what a shock to me too.  Sometime we take life, and God's miracles/healing for granted.  It never even crossed my mind that he would not be coming home.  I was looking forward to taking them (him & his sweet wife) dinner and letting Brynnen play and laugh with them.  You see, this couple loved Brynnen before she was born.  When we joined Chilhowee Hills Baptist Church, I was pregnant, so of course we had to check out the nursery.  We went by one night with some friends who were picking up their son, that's when we first met the legend that is "Mrs. Frances".  She was so sweet, had us register "baby" (at the time we didn't have a name picked out), every time she saw me she asked me how I was doing.  When Brynnen was born, the first card she ever received was from The Ellison's (Mrs. Frances & her husband).
  As you probably know, Brynnen loves knowing what's going on, doesn't want to miss a thing, and has to be in all the action.  She wouldn't sleep in the nursery, are you kidding, there are too many people to see!!  Mrs. Frances sensed my distraught, and that week when I came to pick up Brynnen, she was sleeping. GASP- really?? Wow.  She has what she calls "the sleeper hold"- and can put any, ANY baby to sleep.  Amazing.

 As we would leave the nursery we would always see this nice man sitting at the end of the hallway.  He was so sweet.  I don't even know how, but I then learned that was Mr Frances (Mrs. Frances' husband) totally made sense, he would sit at the end of the hall, and wait for her to do her nursery "duty", no matter how long it took.  We would say hi, and he would always want to see Brynnen, and as she got older he would talk to her, wave at her, make her laugh.   Our friendship grew.  Mainly between Mrs. Frances and I (so the husband's were in by default), she would call when she knew Brynnen was sick- I would call for this or that, they were great family friends.  Mr. Keith was pretty quiet, but I can't help but smile when I think about his interactions with Brynnen.  He loved that little girl (as I'm sure he does a lot of kids at the church).  Stephen told me last night that Mr. Keith was the first person he saw/met at CHBC- asked him to come to the front to pray before the service.  What a bold thing to do, he didn't know Stephen from the next guy, but he did know Jesus.  He did know prayer. 

I'm so thankful Mr. Keith was the kind of man that his life showed where he would go when he passed.  I didn't have to ask if he was a christian, he lived it (so does Mrs Frances).  So why am I sad he is gone?  I know he is with Jesus, a place I long to be-- but never again will I see his sweet face as we leave the nursery- never again will Brynnen be able to lift her shirt and show him her belly, or blow kisses to him.  Then I think about strong Mrs. Frances, how she will never get to kiss him good morning, or sleep beside him at night.  My heart aches for her.  Makes me really cherish the time I have with my own husband and daughter (among others).  If nothing else, death teaches us something- it is inevitable, we don't know when we will take our last breath.  So, maybe we should start focusing on what really matters.  Living a life that pleases God, imitate Jesus with righteousness and obedience.


We love you Keith Ellison, and we'll see you one day soon!!
 

ps a little disappointed I lost Brynnen's birthday pics in our computer crash, so I don't have a picture to put up of her with them.