The heart of Madge....

This summer the girls and I came upon a tragic death. We were coming home and as we topped the hill by our house we saw smoke...as we got closer to our driveway we saw the body lying motionless beside the highway....a motorcycle rider was thrown from his bike...his bike was still running causing the exhaust to continue to blow smoke. A couple of vehicles began to stop. I drove up to the house, yelled for Harold, quickly told him what we had seen....he jumped in his truck, drove down there where a few people gathered, parked.. then ran to the body. As he did this, a couple others went to the bike to turn it off. As Harold had already figured, this guy had died. The emergency personnel showed up and did their thing from there. He had been riding with friends, was at the back of the pack....lost control and his friends did not realize it until they had gotten down the road....then they turned back, saw all the chaos and immediately knew. They told Harold they were heading to a Jamboree in Memphis and stated their friend was a veteran rider from Louisiana. The most wonderful thing they shared in talking with Harold was that their friend was a Christian! We all thought of the family he left behind...a wife and 2 boys (I think I'm correct). The rider was only 51.

Some point a short time later, his family/rider friends made a cross of pipe and placed it where their friend took his last breath. Madge was so touched by this and has stated MANY times she is sooo glad this man was a Christian. She makes sure we kept the grass cut by it and watched over it with eagle eyes. We did this with every grass cutting....weedeating around it also to keep the state hwy. department from having to get anywhere near it.....Well, at the end of summer, the last grass cutting the state department did, they ran over the cross and broke it....breaking a little girls heart. Madge continued to remind Harold he needed to fix the cross....and he promised he would. Saturday, the day before he was to leave, Harold came in, told Madge he had welded the cross, primed it and was ready to paint it (all without her knowledge). The excitment in her face was unforgettable....she jumped up, told him we were going to the shop to get it and SHE wanted to paint it. We loaded it up, placed it at it's home and gave Madge the can of paint. She was thrilled to paint it...feeling as tho she was taking care of the guy we "met" through a tragic accident. Madge has such a tender heart and has ALWAYS been concerned if others are saved. That is the first question she ask if she hears of someone's passing. Going to the funeral home is another thing she feels the need to do...to console family members...."because I know they are hurting so bad and I just want them to know God loves them." Through Madge, I'm often reminded of how serious do I feel about the salvation of others....is it the first thing I think of when meeting others? Not always...but it should be. Do I always share God's love with those I come in contact with? Sometimes, but not always. In listening to Madge talk and wonder of the salvation of others, I'm reminded that I too should be just as concerned about friends, family, and strangers alike...not letting any fears stop me from sharing with others. As we all know, and as my family was reminded this summer, you do not know how much time we have here....we should work together to make sure those we know, those strangers we meet, are also aware of the need of Salvation. Just as a guy, on the video we watched for Sunday Bible study, stated to a friend of his..."I do not want to go to Eternity without you"...that's how serious we should be taking our witness to others. I thank God for Madge and her desire for others to know Christ and what He has done for each of us. I pray her heart will stay tender to God's will and she will continue to have no fear in sharing Him with others. She told Harold and I that she heard a story of some people coming in a Church during service and they told the congregation, "if you will take a bullet for your God then stay, if not get up and leave now." Out of hundreds, only about 50 people were left. Madge talked of how she couldn't believe all those people left then stated, "I would take a bullet for God ANYTIME!" With those words, my heart was filled with tears of joy...knowing that she would do just that and knowing that we all need to be just that certain.

THANK GOD FOR CHILDREN......and thank God for you!