Je rends grâces à mon Dieu pour vous

As you follow the blog in the next 2 months, you will see a post occasionally titled JE RENDS GRÂCES A DIEU POUR VOUS.

Simply translated, this means, "I give thanks to God for you."

Virtually everyone who visits this blog is someone I have:
a) known
b) loved
c) worked with
d) studied the Bible or "churched" with
e) had meaningful conversations with
f) various combinations of, if not all of, (a) to (e).

And life.. .. ..well, it's transient. Fleeting. One minute you have it, the next it's gone.

I thought, what if I go overseas, something tragic happens, and I never return alive?
Or what if something happens so that I don't live to go overseas at all?
What if this were the last year I live?

And now, I hear YOU think, why is she being so morbid? Why is she talking like this?

Get real, people, get rid of this assumption that we're all going to live to a ripe old age.

Says JAMES, the brother of our Lord Jesus Christ (or so I understand):
"Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring.
What is your life?
For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.
Instead you ought to say,
'If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that'." (ch.4, verses 14-15)

Says ISAIAH, my favourite prophet:
"All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.
The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the LORD blows on it;
surely the people are grass.
The grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of our God will stand forever." (40:6-8)

So, if this were my last year to be alive - I'd want to make sure YOU all knew, collectively and individually, how much I have appreciated God's placing every single one of you in my life. (Imagine I was never able to tell you, because I died before I could say thanks!)

I hope to post these "thank God for you" messages in the following order:

1. Famille/FAMILY
2. Amis/FRIENDS - the closest ones
3. Famille/EXTENDED FAMILY
4. Amis/FRIENDS - CCC Milson's Pt. COMMUNITY
5. Amis/FRIENDS - CATHEDRAL COMMUNITY (acknowledging your children as well, if they know me)
6. Amis/FRIENDS - mission-minded ones, & missionary committee at CCC
7. Filles d'ACES/ACES girls (and maybe some EUers, too)
8. Amis - autres/FRIENDS - other
9. Anyone I forgot about!!!!!

Keep an eye out for the appreciation message that mentions YOU. Because if anything does happen to me, I just want you to know how thankful I am for your input.