I have been seeing the Lord’s grace in my life by His maturing me in the way I deal with people. It has been very noticeable in the past many years the ability to deal with those who can’t contend well, but I can still offer truth with grace. More recently I have seen vast improvements in dealing with those who are aggressively against me, and finding that I can respond with clarity and grace. Then there are those who simply run, which is most unfortunate. I do desire to reconcile with Chris Bitterman, but that seems unlikely until he rescinds his ban on communications. The same is true with Render Caines, but until he unplugs his ears, or it is opens his heart, there is no hope. But most important would be to have a shared effort with your dad towards a reconciled relationship.

I must repeat myself in that when he asks to simply have “bygones be bygones”, he is following Islam and not the Lord. I want to share with him the Lord Jesus Christ, but hope is not offered.

I am well aware that I am probably the only one who reads these. But I also know that they are there, they are public, and perhaps one day, maybe decades from now, one of our kids will find this and realize that their dad pursued their mom, their granddad, and them in an effort to be obedient to the Lord and to love.

Also you should know that I have had some other dialogs with some who seem interested in my effort. I am pondering pointing them to the family site, so these voicemails and emails might be seen and heard by others.

Dorothy-Jane, I love you. I miss you. I am committed to you and you alone. I’m also in great health and that has brought to mind a concern. I stated more than once that Jack’s lifestyle choices statistically cut 20 to 30 years off of his life expectancy, and that opens the door to a real possibility of me outliving our son. This hurts, but I am reminded of 1Co6:11. I have also started to wonder about how much you seem to turn to the medical community to sustain your health and our kids. I have started to seriously wonder if I will outlive you. This also hurts.

Dorothy-Jane, My Lady, I am very much in love with you!