August 20. This morning I read a note from my daughter, recalling correctly that today was an anniversary of my bicycle’s demise. My being astride that two-wheeled rolling steed, when the physics of negative acceleration suddenly took over, only served to further complicate things. Her note remembered and marveled at God’s faithfulness throughout these thirteen years as our family story has unfolded.
I have said it is good to stop and occasionally rehearse things that are true, else they are easily forgotten or beat out of us. And, being reminded is a good thing because we are forgetful. Yet, I confess my frequent trepidation through the years as things have unfolded. Lord, forgive my unbelief.
Hear me. God HAS been faithful and RICH in mercy. And what better day to pause and remember this?
Her use of the term “unfolding” put me in mind of a parachute. Odd on a day like today, right? The picture in my mind’s eye should’ve been bicycle-themed. What’s the connection?
Well, I think people who leap from perfectly fine airplanes (as my daughter with my now son in law once did), as their parachutes deploy, must give some thought to the knowledge, skill and integrity of those who folded those many square yards of nylon into a small packet. They yank the rip cord and wonder, “Will my chute quickly slither out and unfold as it must, to fill with air and deposit my silly, gravity-defying soul softly on terra firma?”
God packed my chute that day, didn’t He?
Now onto important attributions that merit annual citation. (Some of you may recognize the following recycled litany.) And, I know I’ll miss more than a few deserving my personal thanks, so if you don’t find yourself represented, take comfort that I will later be sleeplessly remembering you gratefully in the middle of the night. Here goes . . . .
Thanks to lovely and heroic Alice Marvin Heidel, Sue Heidel, Emily (Heidel) Jäderberg, Jonatan Jäderberg, Ginny (Heidel) Masterson, Drew Masterson, Chip Heidel, Ellie Heidel, Allie (Heidel) McFadden, Kenneth McFadden, Caleb Heidel, Gifford Heidel, Gracie (Heidel) Mascioli, Sam Mascioli, Calvin Heidel, Betty Marvin, Martha Marvin, Betsy Marvin, Caroline Marvin, and “nephi,” Uncle Sonny & Aunt Chris, Lee and Carlie Dixon, the Christ Reformed Presbyterian Church saints (of Laurel, MD), the saints at EP of Newark, DE, the saints in Tranas, Sweden, Cedar Brook Academy, Sue Heidel’s NIH Crew, Jim Reid, the Atlanta and Charlottesville-based UVA Crew (Lee Williams, Bob Strickland & Co., Sam Frank Smith III, many others . . .), Brian Musselman, Kurt Pierce, Kelvin Anderson, the Winston Churchill Bulldog-pound (Jim Hamm, Brad Colton, Steve Colton [also in Atlanta], Robert Parisi, Jay Dove, many others . . .), Jeff Kemp, Dan Edwards, my Merrill (later DTI, now Epiq) colleagues, Bill Welte and America’s Keswick, Mark Fisher, Sandy Cove saints, the Elkton, MD (and surroundings) saints, the Virginia Beta Chapter of Phi Delta Theta, Brian Abdo, Paul Buehler, Bob Derrick, Dick Dengler, John August, and many other Montpelier neighbors, McLean Presbyterian Church, Trinity School at Meadowview, Marianne Collins, Matt Winn, UMBC Shock Trauma, Shepherd Center (Drew Oswald, Kat Carlisle, others . . .), Kennedy Krieger Institute, Curt and Carol Hoke and Co., Mark and Nancy Columbia, Joni & Friends, . . .
Cheers and Thanks to You All!
Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore, I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong. 1 Cor. 12:8-10
WheeledWords 