Well, it has been awhile since the last time anyone has blogged. As most of you know, my mom's brother, John Post, tragically passed away on August 6 and went to be with Jesus. Since then, it has been a bumpy and difficult road. From comforting my aunt and cousins, to starting school, and back into the rhythm of our normal life. Yet, while it is normal it also completely different. I used to take the silly emails from him to the entire family for granted, but now I miss his humor and his stories and his videos and pictures. Not a single day goes by when I don't think about him. I do my homework on the dining room table that has pictures of all of the cousins and him and my aunt on our late Fourth of July gathering (I was in Guatemala on the Fourth). It's weird knowing that a few weeks later, me, my dad, and brother would be driving to Grand Rapids, Michigan to see him before he died--yet, we were too late. The last time I talked to him (besides saying goodbye when heading back to Nashville from the lake trip weeks before) was when we were riding in the car to pick blueberries (a tradition). He was talking about teaching me how to drive because I had gotten my permit. It seems like a silly conversation to remember, but I could tell he meant that he wanted to help teach me the ropes of driving. Most of all, I remember the excitement on his face, as if were remembering the days when he learned to drive and wanted to pass it along the line to me. Sadly, that won't be happening, and he won't be able to teach his kids (Simon 12, Samuel 11, and Lucy 7) to drive either. Yet, if I knew then that he would die in the next few weeks, there are so many things I would change. First, I would try to spend as much time as I could with him, and make sure everyone gave him all their love, and listened to all his advice, and so many other things. But I guess that's why God doesn't tell us the future. Because then we would have an easier time living perfect lives because it would be easy to change the future and know the consequences before acting. I can say this one thing: I had no regrets when it came to my uncle. I loved him dearly and still do.
What I'm trying to get at is this: we each have an obligation to love one another. Whether we choose to do so or not is a different story. But, why would you not love someone when Jesus loved you? Ironically, we look down on those we consider lower than ourselves and don't care for the people who need Jesus most. In Matthew 25 Jesus talks about judgement day. He separates those who love and followed him and obeyed his commands and those who chose to disobey. He commands us to care for the sick, feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, help the prisoners, clothe the naked, and love the destitute. When was the last time you thought of doing any of these? This summer, in Guatemala I can say I obeyed those commands...I wish I could still be there acting further upon them, but inconveniently there is something called school that I am required to attend. I'm not trying to put myself on a pedestal and say "look at me, see how good I am!" but I am trying to get you to think about where you want to be. If God is with all those people, why not go there and serve him? It takes time, sometimes money, and a willing heart to help. I know a man who volunteers every Sunday night at the Nashville Women's prison. He leads worship and shows the women what a real Christian man should look like. Another person I know runs a after-school tutoring program at Kipp Academy. A teenage girl (18) who is one of my best friends has a passion for Africa and raises money for clean water, schools, churches, mosquito nets, etc.(Ellie's Run for Africa). It doesn't take much to serve. I have been up at 3am preparing breakfast and serving it at the Nashville Rescue Mission on a Saturday and loved it. There are also Boys and Girls clubs I have volunteered in and loved on kids. I have made sack lunches and walked around Downtown, giving them out to homeless men and women on the streets and eating with them. Once, I was even laughed at by a girl my age. To serve, you have to be willing. Willing to be either accepted or rejected, to give love and receive love, to be laughed at and brush it off, to learn from someone you never thought could teach you a lesson, and to find God in the most unusual places. Most of all, be willing to LOVE. The Beatles sang it so well, "ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE!" God loves you and I unconditionally, why should we not love others back? I'm glad I loved my uncle, it would be way to hard living with regrets knowing I could never take things back.
~Courtney
