An Incredible Service

Today was the funeral service for my uncle. It was a celebration and reflected God's love and grace. My cousin Brian, who I was very close to growing up, in 6 words said it all as he reflected on my uncle Henry. He said, "Dad, you were my best friend." As if that wasn't enough, by about the 3 time he repeated it, I completely lost it. Man, God has placed and entrusted us with so much with our wives and children. I hope and pray that I am as faithful as my uncle Henry with those entrusted to him.

I recall about 5-6 years ago when I was working for a pharmaceutical company. They brought in a speaker who was addressing the work/life balance issue and they said, "Look around this room," which was made up of everyone in the company at a certain grade-level and above. And then they said, "I want to ask you a question,...how many of these people do you think will be around your bedside when you die?" Basically, the point was, yeah work is important, yeah it's critical to maintain positive relationships, but don't let your focus on work get so out of hand or become so unbalanced that you neglect the people and things that mean the most in your life.

I really feel like the loss of my uncle has made me reflect on this subject once again, how much time do I spend in the ministry, how many of those people are going to be around my deathbed, and am I neglecting Sandra and the children, or am I spending appropriate amounts and quality of time with them?