Sunday, September 14, 2008

They Will Never Forget ...

Not that they needed a tattoo to "never forget Joey", but these tattoos are a symbol of love. Not only will Joseph's memory live in their hearts, it is now forever engraved in their flesh. Shaun and JoAnne, Joey is smiling at you :)

4 comments:

Karen said...

On May 22, the sacred was torn from our lives.Now we are learning how to survive till we meet up with him again in Heaven. The tattoos are a reminder of the love and life we shared with our beautiful son, brother, friend--a treasure to each one of us who were close to him. The tattoos provide a way to keep him with us, and to tell the world that our hope for a future reunion is in Christ. Without Him, we would be in despair, but with Him, our hearts are in Heaven and we wait for His Great Remedy for all loss.

Anonymous said...

Just reading again that wonderful hymn, "O love, that wilt not let me go, I hide my weary soul in thee..."

Another wonderful hymn, by John Greenleaf Whittier, sung countless times by my family:

Dear Lord and Father of mankind, Forgive our foolish ways.
Reclothe us in our rightful mind,
In purer lives thy service find,
In deeper reverence, praise.

In simple trust like theirs who heard,
Beside the Syrian sea,
The gracious calling of the Lord,
Let us, like them, without a word,
Rise up, and follow thee.

O sabbath rest by Galilee! O calm of hills above!
Where Jesus knelt to share with thee
The silence of eternity,
Interpreted by love.

Drop thy still dews of quietness,
Till all our strivings cease.
Take from our souls the strain and stress,
and let our ordered lives confess
The beauty of thy peace.

Breath through the heats of our desire
Thy coolness and thy balm.
Let sense be dumb,let flesh retire,
Speak through the earthquake, wind and fire,
O still small voice of calm.


Joe and Karen, Lu I still pray for you. (Goes without saying, yeah?) I hope you are hearing that still small voice of calm.
We love you.
Bill and Lu

Anonymous said...

Joe,as we walked into church Sun.morning,there you were playing and singing your heart out with Joey's ukele on the chair next to you.It just struck me anew how much you and your family have been thru but also how you are continuing to walk by faith.I heard the words of a beautiful old hymn-Love Lifted Me- this afternoon at a memorial service for a longtime friend.I thought of your family as we sang the words-
"All my heart to Him I give,Ever to Him I'll cling,In His blessed presence live,Ever His praises sing:Love so mighty and so true Merits my souls'best songs: Faithful,loving service ,too,To Him belongs." May God continue to wrap His arms around you and your family in Love.Joyce and Jesse

Anonymous said...

Dear Joe & Karen & Family,

"God has all comforts at His disposal" ("A Word in Season to Suffering Saints")

by Thomas Brooks (1608 - 1680)

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of
all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles."
2 Corinthians 1:3-4

God is the God of all sorts and degrees of comfort.

He has all comforts at His disposal.This phrase, "The God of all comforts," intimates to us:

1. That no comfort can be found anywhere else; God has the sole gift of comfort.

2. God has not only some--but all comfort! No imaginable comfort is lacking in Him, nor can be found outside of Him. Nothing can
soundly comfort us, without God.

3. All degrees of comfort are to be found in Him--in our greatest troubles and deepest distresses.

The deeper the distress--the
greater God's comforts.

"God, who comforts the downcast." 2 Cor. 7:6

When we are in a low condition, when we are spent with grief and swallowed up in sorrows, when we are destitute of all relief and comfort--

Then - the God of all comforts comes to console us!

No tribulations, no persecutions, no grievances, no prison doors, no bolts, no bars--can keep the
consolations of God from flowing in upon His people.

God loves to comfort His people--when all their outward comforts fail them.

God's comforts are not only sweet, but seasonable; He never comes too soon--nor ever stays too long.

The comfort of God is one of His most sweet attributes.

Love & Prayers, Kevin & Shirley