So Long, Miss Millie

I kept seeing this couple in Locked & Loaded. A lady in a wheel chair and her husband. About the third time I saw them, I was in one of my moods and did something that would set into motion events that would have an effect on my life for good. I walked over and jokingly said to the lady, "Let me know, if you ever want to get rid of this guy...call me." I believe he said, "You can HAVE her." What followed were some introductions to two of the most amazing people I've met. His name is Gary Shook and his wife's name, Millie. In the years that followed, we became fast friends and they BOTH became heroes of mine. Millie, as she battled Lupus and Gary, as he cared for her, having himself, suffered a stroke. He's a retired State (of North Carolina) employee and she, a former nurse who had to cut her career short because of her health. They epitomize the "in sickness and in health" part of the marriage vow (covenant.) Yep, they fussed and got on each other's nerves, but they loved each other...love being a verb.

This Tuesday past, Millie went home to be with her Lord. At the memorial service yesterday, her dad, Mr John Hart who still lives was quoted as saying Millie developed her personality by the age of two and that when she was put in "time out" she would look in the corner and hum or sing her favorite tune as if the punishment was a sheer pleasure.

Millie spent a lot of time at Rex Hospital as a patient and when she was there, nurses would come and share memories of the days when she was on staff at Wake Medical Center.

Millie and I had deep spiritual discussions and I will not divulge a lot of details in those except to say, Millie had the assurance of her Home in Heaven and Who her Savior is and in the past few days, had become more aware of the Third Person of the Trinity, God's Precious Holy Spirit mainly as the paraclete, or one who comes along side, the Comforter that Jesus promised He would send when He went where we could not in order to send Him.

The memorial service did not have the celebratory spirit that I've seen in some services, but knowing in my heart of Millie's faith in the Lord and the assurance that she is forever present with Him, gives me great comfort.

Millie suffered quite a bit on this planet, but the preacher reminded us that she's in a place where there IS no pain, no sorrow, nor fear of death. There's no parting where she is and as I've said before, I sure hope by now she has met my Mom and Dad who are also there with Jesus.

The most merciful thing the Lord can do in the eyes of the Buck other than His offer of eternal life as a free gift and His paying for our sins on the cross of Calvary is His calling of one of His precious children Home. That's where Millie is now. Home. May the Lord Jesus forever be praised.