<%@LANGUAGE="VBSCRIPT" CODEPAGE="1252"%> <% Dim sActiveMenu sActiveMenu = "Blog" %> The Life and Times of Jon Graves
 

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

New for Now

This is just a test of what I hope will turn out to be a better site and blog. My role's changed 100%, so my site has changed to reflect that. I hope it works.

posted by Jon Graves at 2:26 AM 1 comments links to this post

Sunday, May 11, 2008

1st Mother's Day without Mom

Do you ever wonder if our loved ones in Heaven know what's going on down here? Does God brief them on how we're doing? Can they see what's happening? There's a passage in the Old Testament that piques my curiosity. Either way, it sure would be interesting to know if Jeseca has seen the boys taking music lessons at ARTS. They sure have a lot of fun.
Today was an interesting first Mother's Day without Jeseca. I recall that Everen gave his heart to Jesus on Mother's Day three years ago. It was a moment Jeseca treasured in her heart for the rest of her life. She would have treasured today, as well, as Christian got up in front of his Sunday School classmates and led a worship song with his guitar. Alright, that's a stretch. . . he was supposed to lead worship and sing "Awesome God" but experienced a bit of stage fright. The result was a slow acoustic ballad without words. So funny.
Later we visited the grave site and left a couple of carnations we got from Souplantation's breakfast buffet. We were there just long enough to note that this was the first Mother's Day without Mom, and then said a prayer together. There must be a reason for it all. Maybe the boys will form a band and tell the world how God drastically changed their lives one crazy day in the summer of 2007......the day He required them to eat their Dad's cooking for the next several years.
Still marching... JG

posted by Jon Graves at 10:53 PM 2 comments links to this post

Saturday, May 03, 2008

The cap to an emotional week

I just finished transcribing Jeseca's journals. I had to turn the music off so I wouldn't taint certain songs with whatever it is I'm feeling. Perhaps you've seen an athlete break down in tears after accomplishing a life-long dream? Mix that in with sorrow and that's about how I feel. It's as if she died again.

I have so much to say about what she wrote, and I realize that I will have to do so in a book yet to be written. What I can tell you with all certainty is that the life Jeseca led was pleasing to God, and that she loved Him with all of her heart, mind, soul and strength. She was greatly loved in return.

Jeseca's journals will be available on her site in a couple of weeks. I need some time to convert them from Word into a downloadable PDF, and to set up the payment option.

Tonight, though, I have a prayer request. I've been asked to write a 2,000 word article for New Man Magazine (it has a subsciber base of 16,000 men). The article will cover what it was like to lose Jes, how I've led the boys through, and will (hopefully) challenge men to invest in their marriages. If you think of it, please pray that God will give me the words these men need to hear.

posted by Jon Graves at 11:19 PM 1 comments links to this post

Thursday, May 01, 2008

One year ago

I hadn't planned to post tonight. I'm finalizing the design for Jeseca's (and my) headstone, otherwise known as a marker. Thumbing through Jeseca's journals for a quote I might use, I came across the following entry dated May 1, 2007:

"Hello Lord, my King and Savior. I lay at your feet, feeling so done, so tired. Wishing that I could stay in bed all day, I instead push myself to get up, make breakfast for those boys, do school and try to make it through dinner...sometimes in too much pain to bear. I am too weak now to do much, and my poor sweetie has had to take over things like laundry, dishes, etc., even while he is burdened with work and his dad's business. He gets up at 4:45 every morning to work out and study the Bible, and then stays up until I go to bed around 10 or 11. He is such a good man; thank you, Lord.

"Even now I am getting too tired to write, but I want to thank you for speaking through Christian to me tonight. I was telling him and Everen how it may get to the point where I am in bed all the time, but to always trust and believe that God will heal me. Christian replied, "It's like you're going to take a snoozy-poo (nap) while God's healing you!" Thank you, Lord, for letting me know it's okay to rest and be sick. You are still healing me!"

There's a TobyMac song titled, "I'm For You" that I used to sing to Jes. I thought of it as my anthem to her. I was wrong. It was her anthem to me and the boys. I've never seen such faith or love. Lord, make me like that. Like you. JG

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posted by Jon Graves at 11:59 PM 0 comments links to this post

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