Reflections and Direction

As the time here in WI is starting to come to an end (we are here for only about another 1-1/2 weeks) we try to see and visit all those who we can. One day this week, we had breakfast with two couples who have been friends for over 40 years. We were all young parents in a small subdivision (only 8 homes at first). All with small children and poor as church mice!!! Wondering how we were going to come up with the $150.00 house payment a month!!!! We wives did not work, got together daily for support and advice, while our children played together.  We passed clothes around the neighborhood until they were finally used as scrub rags. The youngest child usually got the end of the hand-me-downs, sometimes spruced up with a bit of ribbon or a seam repair here and there  They went out in the morning to play, sometimes coming home for lunch - if they did not come home, we were comfortable in the knowledge that one of us had fed them!!! Usualy when they did come home, it was with a string of dirty faced, grubby handed neighborhood kids, all in need of a scrubbing and lunch. They all seemed to get along together well - in fact, a couple of them are planning a "Kelly Reunion" (the name of the area where we lived) next year. Most of them keep in contact with one another through Facebook to this day. To the best of my memory there were about 26 of them - an average of 3 per family! As we three couples reminisced , along with one of our daughters, we laughed, giggled, with shouts of "I don't remember that" mostly from our daughter who thought we were grown ups at the time and did not know how to have fun! It was 2 hours of great fellowship. There have been marriages, deaths, grandchildren, sorrows and joys packed in those few hours. As I now look back, I see where the Lord had our lives planned out - how we got from there to here by small and large steps, in stages as we grew closer to Him, not realizing how we were following His path. If not for this or that happening, the other would not have happened, thus leading us to this place and then on to the other place. As we said at the Chaplain's University last year, we have no idea why we were there - we now know! It has lead to us to be commissioned as chaplains for CHI. Our lives and spiritual walk has lead us to a closer relationship with the Lord, always relying on Him daily for guidance. How do I serve Him?   Micah 6:8 says :"He has showed you, O Man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God".