Over the weekend I had the opportunity to attend a high school class reunion/cookout, back in Fayette. It was actually a combination of classes, namely '81 (my year), '82 and '83. I rode down and met my life-long friend Lyle, and we rode out to the location together. It was a great night of seeing and catching up with old friends. I'm always amazed at the stories I hear, of the things that have happened in so many lives since our last reunion. Some are on their 2nd or even 3rd marriage, acting excited and hopeful for better days ahead. Some who married right out of high school, whom no one thought would ever make it, have actually defied the odds and stayed together and stayed in love across the years. That was a very encouraging thing to see. So many of us have kids that are now graduating, and we wonder, "Wow- are we really getting that old??" Some that I didn't know too well in school I've come to know better, like the captain of the cheerleading squad who along with raising 3 kids of her own, has adopted the 2 children of her drug addict brother. As she told me about it all, I saw the pain and sadness in her eyes, yet I marvelled at the courage and determination she possessed, to raise and love those kids as her very own. I hugged her and said, "You are doing an amazing, honorable thing. God's going to bless you for that." So many stories in so many lives, it was really too short a time to spend with them all. Lyle and I just walked among them, listening to their lives and giving encouragment to these classmates we loved so much.
I left with a heavy heart, wishing I could spend so much more time with so many of them. These were the people I grew up with, and though we have gone our separate ways, we will always have a deep connection to each other. And if God can continue to use me to speak His love into their lives, I hope I'll always be ready and available. I look forward to the next time we are all together again.
Rob