Wow, what a ride. I have been gone a long time folks (technical difficulties) and am still connecting by Dial-Up. I just wanted to drop in and make a post tonight, because I have something to say. Let’s start with the Business part, I am currently drinking coffee made from Whole Bean 8-O’Clock French Roast, brewed in a standard Drip machine (Gevalia). And my smoke right now is an Arturo Fuente, Cuban Belicoso Sun Grown (Thanks Gina :^), you are the best).
Now, to what I wanted to say…
I attended a funeral this week. I must point out that I hate funerals. You sit and listen to someone talk about a person who was loved by all and was a fine person. Sometimes they make stuff up, sometimes they flat out lie. This funeral was different.
First I will tell you who we lost. My uncle David, William David Tanner. He served the USA as a Communications Specialist during several tours on the USS Kitty Hawk as well as the USS Constellation. Both Aircraft Carriers. He was a decorated sailor and one of the finest men you could ever meet. Uncle David has been fighting Cancer for about 6 years and toward the end was in so much pain, the cancer took quite a toll on him. He was truly ready to go, and as much as we will miss his smiling face and his uncanny ability to make you laugh at any time, I take comfort in knowing he is no longer in pain.
As I listened to the people talking about David, they were talking about David, the man of Faith and the loving Christian man he had become. But I knew another David. I knew the one who sometimes drank too much, and smoked too much and could tell some jokes that would make a salty ship captain blush. But the goodness and selflessness and all around fantastic Christian that these people were talking about, was the same David. He was that man they knew, and had been that great man, long before he became a Christian man.
My uncle went from being a fine man who would give you the very shirt from his back if you were in need, to a fine Christian man who would give you the very shirt from his back if you were in need. While many people turn their life around and make dramatic changes in their life when they put on God, my uncle David didn’t have to change a thing, he simply changed his destination for departure. I anxiously look forward to the day that I can go fishing in heaven with the greatest Uncle a boy could ever wish for.
Uncle David, we love you, and I’ll be seeing you someday soon. Until my day arrives, you will be sorely missed, and never forgotten.
Great people come along so seldom, I wanted you all to know that my life is blessed by many great people, one of the greatest is gone, and my life has been greatly enriched by his all too brief stay here on this earthly home, and knowing he will be waiting at the gate when I get there make my own passing something I don’t dread nearly as much as I would have otherwise.
When I return to this blog next, I will be back to talking Coffee and Cigars. I hope nobody minded my “side track”, but trust me, if you knew my uncle, you would understand why I had to make this post.
