A Beautiful Story Ending (from Douglas Poole)

Dear Cypress Family and Friends,

"We don't know how much we are capable of loving until the people we love are being taken away...until a beautiful story is ending." (from 'A Million Miles in a Thousand Years' by Donald Miller)

As I read those words last week my thoughts went immediately to someone I love, whose beautiful story is ending...My Aunt Florence. She and my Uncle LaVern were not able to have children so they poured all the love and affection they had in their hearts for kids into their nieces and nephews. And, boy oh boy, were our lives ever better because of them. LaVern passed almost 15 years ago and Aunt Florence is now in the early stages of alzheimer's. Her once sharp mind and engaging conversations are showing all the signs of deterioration you would expect from someone whose memory is slowly being erased one life scene by one life scene. We know where this leads to...her beautiful story is ending. What we don't know is how long this journey will be or how much heartache and pain we will experience along the way. My sister is walking with our Aunt down this unthinkable path and taking care of her as she once took care of us. I get updates and pray from 1700 agonizing miles away. A-a-r-r-g-g-h-h!

All of us are writing a story with our lives and some of us have someone we love whose beautiful story will end this year. Map out a great story for your life in 2011 and then live it...and love the people in your life as if their story were ending. You might just be surprised at the great life you are capable of living and the great love you are capable of giving.

I hope you do whatever you have to do, to be at Cypress the weekend of January 29/30 because we will roll out the beautiful story God will be writing on the pages of people lives through Cypress in the next couple of years. A 1000 stories of faith, hope and love!

See you this weekend as we wrap up the 'Taking Responsibility for Your Life' series. 10-10 right? Right!

Blessings,

Douglas