Thank you Grandpa Littlemore

I never had the opportunity to get to know my grandparents well as we lived a long distance from them. My memories are all positive and happy. Visits with my mom's parents were especially rare because they were "snowbirds" and spent much of the year in Florida. I know my wandering spirit is inherited from Grandma Littlemore. She had the heart of an adventurer and the feet of a deer. My desire for organization and endurance were given to me from Grandpa Littlemore. This man was a strong, quiet (because he was nearly stone deaf by the time I began watching him), organized, and self directed man. Recently I found out that he had walked around Lake Ontario. It made my heart leap to know that I would be continuing what he had started. Grandpa Littlemore was a man profoundly affected by the first world war in which he served as a medic. I remember waking to hear him screaming in the night, and my heart would pound as I lay as still as possible while the "storm" passed through. I never said thank you to him for serving our country (the world) in this way. The price he paid exacted a toll on his life long after he left the theatre of war.
Grandpa Littlemore did something for me specifically which was burned into my memory and even deeper into my heart. I remembered it again when I walked in the rain the other day. Now I must say that although Grandpa Littlemore was a man of faith (I noticed him reading his Bible daily) he did not wear his spirituality on his sleeve. Like the rest of his life, it was lived quietly and privately.
There was a short time when he was living with our family at Beaver Lake. It was my birthday and he gave me a birthday card. In the card was the gift. No, it wasn't a $5 dollar bill, it was a Bible verse. I remember reading the verse and having a strong sense that the words were VERY IMPORTANT and that I should never forget this gift from Grandpa Littlemore. It was a verse that I was very familiar with and it didn't seem to make any great statement. But the strong sense of importance enveloped me and I tucked that gift away in my heart for it to mature and reveal itself to me in time to come.
I am sure you will understand the flush of joy I felt as I remembered the gift from Grandpa Littlemore the other day in the rain as I walked.
The gift was from Isaiah 40: 30,31
"Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."
Since we don't know for sure if people who are living in eternity can see us on earth, I choose to think that Grandpa Littlemore will be watching me walk with great interest. He will be calmly cheering me on and when I feel like "fainting" from the goal I will imagine him giving me that card once more and this time with a big smile and a wink.
Thank you Grandpa Littlemore for serving your country, for fighting against the evil in this world, for giving me the gift of direction and speaking this into my life, thank you for being a significant part of my road team.

The walk from earth to heaven is just a simple step of faith.