Permit me for a moment… a personal reflection.
My wife and I have been away this week, visiting with my sister, her husband, family and friends as she took her lasts breaths.
For years she clashed with cancer, It was never easy. But for me, it has always in a way been inspiring.
Inspiring to see my only sibling, her strong personal faith so cruelly tested by cancer, heroically battle its advance.
Inspiring to see the little girl once terrified of dogs and fascinated by fashion sit up calmly in her bed a day before her passing, ignoring her own body’s rebellion to write letters of encouragement to friends and family.
Inspiring to finally meet her Women’s Bible study about which she so often bragged and always praised for the comfort they provided through the best and worst of times.
Her Virginia home is filled with books and Bible tracts she gave freely to anyone who would take them, never judging, always a word of kindness to those in need.
Religious faith for her was never just a place to be seen on Sunday morning or her Bible a shield to hide behind. It was all a manual for living.
I ask you to remember someone you never knew to admire for a moment someone you never met. Her name was Debra, like the Debra in the Bible, a wise woman who touched all she knew and perhaps now with this a few she never knew.
