Before we left on our trip my niece texted me (from her home in Southern California) and said she wanted her brother to join us for breakfast, no matter what her dad said. She hadn't seen him in many years and she missed him.
My brother-in-law Ken and his son do not get along, I think it's because they're so much alike. Their language is rough and their lifestyle is rough. None of them know the Lord. My nephew has made some bad choices in life but is really trying to turn his life around. I honestly believe he wants a relationship with his dad, has wanted it his whole life, but his dad hasn't wanted that. Even though they've both lived in the same small town for many years, the only time they've seen each other was the day my sister died.
I texted my niece and told her I would pray that the Lord would soften her dads heart and allow her brother to join us.
Two days later she said her dad told her it would be okay if he came. 🙏
I asked Ken to recommend a place to eat and he mentioned The Branch, a fairly new place to Walsenburg but it had really good food. I found out they had more than good food!
Chuck, Beth and I got to the restaurant the same time as my nephew, it had been maybe 15-20 years since I'd seen him. We got to talk a while before the others showed up and while we were talking I realized I recognized the song that was playing. A Brandon Lake concert was playing on the TV! He's a Christian recording artist! I began to look around the restaurant and there is art with scripture verses on the walls!
Then the server came to get our drink order and as she turned to leave, the back of her shirt read Be Right Back, and had a cross on it. ✞ It not only applies to the server, but also Christ. He's gone to heaven to prepare a place for us and will come back to get us so we can live with Him forever. What a perfect place for us to eat together!
After breakfast I asked the server to take our picture.
Starting on the left and going down and around the table: Me, Beth, my nephew, Chuck, Ken, and my nieces boyfriend and my niece. Then my niece said she wanted to get more photos outside.
If you look closely, you can see my nephews arm around his dad. This is huge. My niece was so grateful to get these photos. She told me, "Who knows if I'll ever see them again?"
Cousins
We all hugged goodbye and as we drove away I started to cry. It was so good to see them all again and I was so grateful to the Lord for bringing them together. I continue to pray that there would be reconciliation between my brother-in-law and his son. They're both alone in that town. And they need each other.
We left Colorado and headed west, through Utah and into Nevada.
Utah had the most unusual landscape formations. Plus, we took I-80 which goes right through the Bonneville Salt Flats about 100 miles west of Salt Lake City. We didn't stop or anything but they were very interesting. Google says "It's a massive packed salt pan that covers 30,000 acres and is made mostly of table salt."
We stayed overnight in Reno, then headed into Northern California. We had one more important stop before home.
No comments:
Post a Comment