August 6-12, 2000 was a week filled with many great memories that I hope to never forget. I was 15 years old and had been so excited to go on a missions trip with fellow "Franklin Conference District Youth" friends. Several of the older youth had gone in previous years but you had to be 15 to participate so I couldn't wait until I hit that mark. The year finally came and we embarked on a billion hour van ride to Harlan, Kentucky. The outreach called "S.W.A.P. - Sharing with Appalachian People" takes groups in for a week at a time to work on homes that are falling apart in one form or another. My group consisted of Kara Lehman (youth group and lifetime friend) and two guys from New York whom we had never met before. Our task was to completely gut a bathroom for an older lady who was in desperate need of a bathroom remodel. This was her only bathroom so we all had to use the neighbors bathroom while we were completing this task. Not only did we get to know the lady we did the work for but we get to know the neighbor lady and her son as well. It was neat to relate to all of them in just the short time we were there. On our last day of work, I swapped addresses with them and have managed to keep in touch via snail mail over the years. The lady who we did the work for stopped corresponding a few years ago but the neighbor lady had continued to keep in touch. Shirley Elkins -- would you believe we even shared the same birthday? Over the years we would write when we could and swap birthday/Christmas cards on a regular basis.
Fast forward to today. I received a hand written letter that had a return address of Frankfort, Kentucky but the person's name wasn't familiar to me. I had a sinking feeling in my stomach and upon opening the letter my suspicions were proved true. The letter was written by Shirley's oldest daughter whom I never had the opportunity to meet. She was writing to tell me that Shirley passed away suddenly. She began to tell me that Shirley always loved hearing from me and thanked me for keeping in touch with her. She ended the letter saying "She thought a lot of you."
It's never easy to hear when someone passes but I took this letter particularly hard. I can't say where Shirley is today but I hope and pray she is rejoicing in Heaven with Jesus. The questions flooded my mind....
Did I say enough? Did I really make an impact on her life in a positive way? Did Jesus shine through my letters? Did the week I spent interacting with her almost 14 years ago make a Jesus impact on her and her son? Sobering to be reminded that all of our days are numbered and every interaction we have with others in this world are of serious eternal value. May I never take the power of my actions and words for granted and may Jesus SHINE BRIGHTLY through me in all that I do and say today and always.
