Wednesdays with Mr. Black

Seth, Dennis and I met with Mr. Black again today. Something happens to me whenever I go to a retirement home. I get very quiet and reflective.

My grandmother lived in a retirement home in Atlanta for about 7 years. I remember every summer my family would spend a week there. Sunrise at Huntcliff Summit. That was it's name. That was about ten years ago, but I can still remember almost everything about it.

When I was fourteen, she moved to Massachusetts to be close to my dad and us. The retirement home she stayed at was real nice. It was much smaller than Huntcliff. It had a cozy feeling about it. Brighten Gardens was its name. I got a job as a waiter there when I was seventeen. The residents had three meals a day. My grandmother sat at table A1. A1 was right by the entrance to the kitchen. She sat with three other lovley women. They were a quiet bunch. Much quieter than other tables. But that is what I liked about them. Whenever I walked by my grandmother with a platter in my hand she looked up at me and smiled. Sometimes I wonder if she was seeing her son instead of me. My dad and I share quite a resemblance. I am six foot one, have a scruffy beard, and lanky build. So does my dad, except he has a mustache. But most of the time i think my grandmother knew it was me, her grandson that walked by. I worked there for about ten months, from February of 2008 to December. Those were some of the most memorable moments of my life. I got to know my grandmother in a way I never expected. She was an incredible woman of God, who loved her Savior and her family until her last breath.

Today at Mr. Blacks, in Anchorage, Alaska, I was reminded of the last few months I had with my grandmother. I can recollect one particular memory that will remain in my mind forever. It was a warm June night. I had just finished up cleaning the dinning area. I was locking up that evening. After I turned the lights off, I looked at the empty dining room. It was so still. I decided to go up to my grandmother room to check in on her. If I remember right, she lived on 247. It was about 8:30 by then. As I peaked through the door I found my grandmother asleep on her bed. sun was setting through her window and trees were gently blowing outside. I pulled up a seat next to her bed and just sat there. As I watched her sleep, I thought. I thought about her life. How as a 19 year old Mormon, her alcoholic husband left her to move to L.A. How a few months later, he met a few street Evangelists who led him to Jesus. How they wrote a letter attesting to a change in his character as he went back to Utah to reconcile things with my grandmother. How she then started following the Lord and they were united again in marriage. How my grandfather was a self taught pastor for 40 years. How The Lord has had His hand in my family's life, years and years before I was born.

As I was thinking, my grandmother opened her eyes and smiled at me. She recognized me. I prayed for her. After I was done, her eyes were still closed. In a few soft words, she said "Lord, bless Joshua's ministry. Thank you for him. Bless his ministry." I was not in ministry at the time. I think the Lord revealed something to her that night about my future.

My grandmother went home to be with the Lord about a month later. Now, as i sit here and think back on all this, I realize how brief life is. I will never relive those moments with my grandmother again. And I will never relive this moment. Life happens moment by moment. If we are to experience all that The Lord has for us, we must live fully in the moment He has given us. Because we will never get it back.

I eagerly await the day when I will see my grandparents in heaven. I will never be able to thank The Lord enough for saving us, and giving us a purpose to live for. His purpose. Thank you so much Father. We don't deserve it.



JN