Coming Home

I have tried mentally to write this blog for three days now. I am feeling a responsibility to honor a couple who have gone through a trial with grace and an unfailing witness to the joy they have in Jesus. I am also feeling a need to give a nod to my new community and – at long last I can say it – my new home.

Bob and Sue. We had met them when we came down to visit as nonresidents. But we began to really know them after we moved here in April. Steve had golfed with Bob, who was diagnosed with cancer about three years ago and given only months to live. God had other ideas.

Sue leads the community Bible study I have become a part of. I watched her over the past several months, and then weeks, respond to the demands of illness and the loss of a life partner with courage, absolutely, but so much more than that. Her ever-present smile is genuine, yet she has been open about the ordeal – her frustrations and her failings. She has carried her burden with grace and eyes always on God, intent on giving Him glory.

Bob passed on Wednesday, October 14, 2009 and this community will miss his good humor, “sweet golf swing”, strong faith and, above all, his gentle spirit. Sue will mourn him in her time and in her way, but for now, there’s that smile, reminding us all she really believes it when someone says to her, “He’s in a better place.”

Today as I watched the Baptist church fill while waiting for the memorial service to begin, I realized how many faces I knew. And still they came, filling all the seats, the choir loft and folding chairs that were added. I saw faces I had casually met, friendly faces, open and encouraging faces. And I was struck by how many faces I saw of people I love. And I realized I saw friends, honest-to-goodness friends who would be there for me, as they were for Bob and Sue.

Wyboo is a unique community. Sheltered from the “real world” by distance from town, the location is an idyllic setting on a South Carolina lake. There is fishing and golf, as well as a short driving distance to the familiar vacation spots: Hilton Head, Charleston, Savannah, and Myrtle Beach. I should have been excited to come.

Three years ago when we decided this would be our retirement home, I was prepared to leave Virginia kicking and screaming. God knew this. He knew I needed time and He gave me two years. When He finally said, “It’s time,” He said so with circumstances that could not be any clearer.

I have struggled some, of course. I miss my family and my former church. But to be honest, it’s hard to be unhappy around these people! It is a community where folks could easily be “all about me.” I have found it to be at the other end of the spectrum entirely. These people really care about one another and about the community outside the gates. This is not lip service. There have been more instances than I can relate of honest-to-goodness sacrifice for others – the kind that requires time and getting off your bottom and working for someone.

So I sat in the little church, listening to a mournful, yet beautiful Amazing Grace from the bagpipe, and I felt closed in by community. I belong to these giving, caring people. I was surrounded by friendly faces that will go into the rest of these years with Steve and me. They will love us and support us and we will do the same for them. I am home.