This is a Day the Lord Has Made Rejoice and Be Glad in It

I had no more said this is a day the Lord has made; rejoice and be glad in it and entered into prayer when the telephone rang. (No one has ever called me before sunrise with good news.) I answered the telephone, it was a call to inform me my cousin Bill died. I was stunned. He was my older cousin by 3 years, my friend, my brother in Christ, a prayer partner. We shared many serious prayer requests over the last 4 1/2 years.

I thought of his children, his grandson who turned one today. I thought of his parents, brother, and other siblings. His family would be rocked again when his father died a few days later.

So...it was a day the Lord had made, was I going to rejoice and be glad in it? Through tears, yes I still rejoiced. My heart misses him, my mind has come to terms he is in his heavenly home and I will see him in the future.

No more Texas Aggies - Texas Longhorn jokes between us. No more Dallas Cowboy jokes, he was a fan of theirs. No more making him laugh with TBT pictures or humorous Facebook posts, no more sharing Scriptures and what the Lord revealed to us as we studied.

I will smile through tears the next time I hear How Great is our God because he loved it so. I will cry the next time I watch Green Berets because I always do and it inspired him to enlist in the Army where he was in Special Forces for over 20 years.

I miss Bill, I am thankful for the prayers he prayed for me and my family, and I am thankful for the love he showed me. A great patriot and cowboy did indeed ride away...