History

Some of our lives are intertwined. The Richards and Eicher families for example. Take a look at Jeremy Richards. His parents - Geoff and Jeanne Richards sang at Mum and Dad's wedding - 40 years ago. The mention of his grandfather - Mr. Durham - cleared the way for me when I met the main elder of the assembly when I wanted to marry Sheba. Many, many other connections are there.

But yet for most of our lives we have lived apart. Jeremy left India when he was 9 years old as his parents relocated to serve God in Cyprus and then in their native Australia. Growing up - we knew about the Richards by name and story - esp. as Mum wistfully talked about their musical prowess and how they as a family would sing together in harmony (something for us Eichers was like pulling teeth).

Then one snowy day in the US when I found out that Timothy - who was my age - had died. I was in the second year of college and Tim had been a brilliant witness for God. His sudden and totally unexpected death - on the eve of his grandfather's funeral - was such a shock. Uncle Geoff committed both his earthly father and first born son to the Lord on the same day. Timothy's death continues to shape me. He was a kind of alter ego - the person who was close to me in so many ways - and yet growing up so far away that we had no real communication - now gone to be with the Lord.

Last year Aunty Jeanne also left this world. After years of fighting cancer, she slipped into life.

And now our family histories intertwine again. Jeremy is back in India after a year of serving on the OM ships Logos II and Logos Hope. He is here to see what God has in store for him and the wonderful lady that Jeremy is praying about marrying. As Sheba and I look back on the miracles of the past 8 years of marriage we are so thrilled to be able to participate in a new way in the lives of the Richards family again.

We celebrated Jeremy's 36th birthday last week. It was wonderful to be family. What a great adventure we are all on together!