Hello Marilyn:

Enjoyed your letter.  It so reminds me of how God impacts our lives in, at times, little ways, that never get our full attention until well down the road of life.  It is a miracle in knowing how God guides our footsteps, and has it all safely under control.

Like you, for years, I studied the Bible using Strong's and Young's Concordances.  When I got my first computer in 1996, I made a gigantic leap forward.  I had just completed a MA in Christian Apolgetics.  With the leftover funds in my Stafford Loan account, I purchased 'Hermenutics', the premier Bible Software for professionals and students.  It enabled me to accelerate my computer studies.  Since then I purchased several more computer-based Bible software applications.  While the computer was a blessing to be sure, it has shortcomings, not always apparent.  I still have to do the leg work to locate the "Diamonds & Nuggets. 

I know the loss you must have felt when your husband went to be with the Lord.  I lost my first wife to Huntingdon's Disease, a neurological disorder; and we lost a son a month before his scheduled birth.  We have lots to look forward to on the other side.  I'm so looking forward to new knees and 20/20 vision. 

I know well the excitement of a youngster's looking forward to a birthday, but its even much greater looking forward to Rosh HaShanah.  Its always tempered with the past coming and going without deliverance.  When you think about it for a while you can see why God gave the Feast Days of the Lord as "rehearsal" events for the arrival of the unknown day.  I like your quote from Haggai, "the seed was in the barn".  I learned years ago that the Holy Spirit's conception event was on Kislev 24, but most Methodists disregarded it for the Roman date as the "birth" of the Messiah.  It is tragic that the institutional church is still connected at the hip with Rome.

Your "special visit" with your husband Ed gave me the chills and thrills.  Twenty-two years ago I had a rare visitation of an angel, that out of nowhere showed up on my doorstep and a few hours later disappeared from site at a Waffle House in Williamstown, KY off of Interstate 75, south of Cincinnati, OH.  I will share the experience next week in a post.  I am so busy this week with meetings and studies with a couple groups of folks this week that I haven't time to post it.

Your story has been a blessing, and I sincerely hope this Feast of Trumpets is your reunion with Ed and our Lord.

God's blessings,

Pastor Bob