Jerry Bennett

Good morning,

Great teaching today titled “Walking with God.” I am going to put the teaching from Max Lucado at the beginning today.

You were taught to be made new in your hearts, to become a new person… Made to be like God—made to be truly good and holy. (Ephesians 4:23-24)

Healthy marriages have a sense of “remaining.” The husband remains in the wife, and she remains in him. There is a tenderness, an honesty, an ongoing communication. The same is true in our relationship with God. Sometimes we go to him with our joys, and sometimes we go with our hurts, but we always go. And as we go, the more we go, the more we become like him. Paul says we are being changed from “glory to glory” (2 Cor, 3:18 KJV).

People who live long lives together eventually begin to sound alike, to talk alike, even to think alike. As we walk with God, we take on his thoughts, his principles, his attitudes. We take on his heart.

Steve’s dad has been in hospice since Sunday and we know his condition is failing very quickly, so all the family has been gathering in his room often, with several different ministers stopping in.

The devotion reminds me of so many things. Number one: We go to God. We all in our own way have gone to God, for Jerry to be comfortable in his last days. We go to God with thanksgiving for all that Jerry has been to each of us. Committed husband; generous, generous father; and friend. We go to God to take him to heaven and are so thankful we will join him there when it is our turn to leave.

Number two: I love that the devotional ends with what I can see in that room. We did not just start our walk with God on Sunday. Our family has taken on God’s heart as we have lived our lives. Betty and Jerry, in their 59 years together have gone to God with their joy and with their hurts. I know Jerry and Betty have been in a long marriage and they are truly melded together and that will never change. I am filled with a thankful heart for having known Jerry and the things I see in my husband: integrity, honesty, loyalty, generosity that I know were started right from his Dad. So as we continue in the cycle of life, I count myself blessed, as I am sure you do. As we walk with God, we take on his thoughts, his principles, his attitudes. We take on his heart!

So, I love you, Jerry. May God bless you and keep you. May He shine his face upon you and give you peace and may you wake up in heaven surrounded by your mom and dad and all the friends who are anxiously awaiting your arrival!

Love you, Teri