One of the advantages of having my children when I was really young, is that my parents were also young.  My mom and dad were both in their forties when the girls were born, and had just turned fifty when Scott came along.  All three of my children were older when my Gran died, so they knew her as well.  Both of my parents were still in good health when Jon was born ten years later.  All of them had a great influence in the lives of my children.  I am thankful for that.

After the Marine Corps years, we went back to our home town, and interaction between the generations was a big part of all of our lives.  Becky told me that when Gran was in her nineties, that Becky had gone to the nursing home where Gran was being cared for, and Gran--who was struggling to speak---looked up at her and said, "God is good."  Gran couldn't hardly move--having been paralyzed by a stroke.  She was miserable and suffering but Becky said that she will always remember those words.  They were the last words she heard Gran say.

She didn't say, "God was good."  And she didn't say, "God will be good."  In the middle of the tragedy of a broken body, she said, "God is good."  That is such a wonderful testimony from a strong Christian woman who was preparing to meet her God.  We were blessed to know her.

 Once when I was in Rome, I got to go to the place where they held the apostle Paul after he was arrested for his belief in Christ.  It was a small rock cistern in the ground with only a hole in the surface rock as an entry.  The only way in--back then--was to drop a ladder in the hole.  Dark.  Damp.  Cold.  Lonely.  Confined.  And while he was in prison, Paul wrote, "...for I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content." Philippians 4:11b.  I told you last week about my mother being content in the middle of Alzheimer's disease,  so the scripture that Paul wrote when he was locked in a Roman prison is still fresh in my mind.

I hate to admit it, but am glad Paul was in prison.  If he hadn't been arrested we wouldn't have all the wonderful letters that he wrote which are now a large part of our Bible.