7I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. ~ 2Timothy 4:7 (ESV)
My friends, thank you for joining us today on a very special Prayers for the Week post. We learned on Friday morning that Uncle Sam, pictured in the grey sweater, passed away in his sleep that morning. It was totally unexpected — we had just seen Uncle Sam just 6 weeks earlier for Uncle Ted’s (far right) funeral. My friends, thank you for your love and support during this trying time. In this picture, only Uncle Walter on the left and Uncle Bud in the middle are left, and I know that they are hurting, wondering what is happening. My wife Cindy and her family has lost three of her uncles in the past 18 months.
My friends, please pray with us, pray for Uncle Sam, for his goodness, for his kindness, for those that he touched in his life. Pray for Aunt Saundra, his wife, and their children and grandchildren and nieces and nephews and cousins and on and on and on. Please pray for their comfort, their strength, their peace, pray that God would wrap them up in His arms and care for them for as long as need be. Most of all, pray that they would turn to God in their grief, that they wouldn’t turn angry towards God, but rather, that they would understand that God needed Uncle Sam at that moment, that, while we don’t know the reason he was chosen at that moment, we know that it is for the Glory of God. Most of all, pray that if there is someone that does not know God, pray that they would come to know Him through the example that Uncle Sam, Uncle Ted, and Uncle Bob left for us. These were great men, all of them taken before we wanted them, and I know that the old saying is that these things come in threes, but I didn’t want that to be the case.
My friends, please pray for Uncle Bud and Uncle Walter, that they would stay in good health, and that God would not call them for some time to come. My wife Cindy and her family need them to stick around for a while yet. Now, please pray with me the prayer that Jesus taught His Disciples to pray:
Our Father, who art in Heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done,
On earth as it is in Heaven.Give us this day our daily bread,
And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory forever and ever. Amen.
