We'll see.
We left Friday morning and headed to the booming metropolises of Springfield and Campo, Colorado. Wow. Campo must have all of... 150 people living there? We were told told that we would be staying in the parsonage across the street from the Baptist church, so that's where we went first. We moved into the kitchen (the house is vacant, but the locals had supplied it with air mattresses and blankets and juice and snacks and towels and all sorts of thoughtful things), then changed clothes and headed the 20 miles up to Springfield for the viewing.
Those things are never pleasant and, of course, there were lots of tears. Still, it was just so good to see all of the Clarksons and to just be with them. I felt so terrible that we couldn't be with them at the hospital this last week and it felt like a visit was long overdue. We were at the funeral home for a couple of hours, then we all headed over to Sister Clarkson's sister's house in Campo for dinner that all of the townsfolk had provided. (It is the most amazing and accomadating little town in the world--they were sooooooo friendly and generous and thoughtful!) The Lewis' were there and the Hays, along with our family and all of the Clarkson bunch... and perhaps some that I'm forgetting? I know this sounds terrible, but we had a wonderful time! I just can't begin to express how much better I feel after being with the Clarksons. Death is always such a cruel thing (at least our human minds struggle with that view of it) and it's not easy for anybody to deal with--and Clarksons seem to feel 10x what your average person would feel--and I've just been so worried about them and wondering how they were coping with all of this. But it's evident that God is showering them with His wonderful and amazing GRACE and although the road ahead is sure to be a difficult one, God is helping them and they're going to be alright.
After we visited for a while (and planned the funeral--in true last-minute Clarkson fashion! Ha!), we headed back to the parsonage where we stayed with the Hays and the Lewis'. The next morning we all got up and just hung out (and took turns with the ONE shower in the house--which was a blessing to have at all!) and then headed over to the church at 11:30 for the meal they had provided. We had a nice time of visiting and I was amazed (but really not surprised) and truly touched by the number of church folk who were able to attend. I think I counted 48 of them (not counting any Clarksons, of course) who came. That may not sound like a lot to those of you who aren't familiar with our region. We're rather small out here, and if you looked at a map it would help--because our AREA is NOT small! We had people come from as far as Andrews, Texas (380 miles = 7 hours), Alamogordo, New Mexico (405 miles = 8 hours) and Craig, Colorado (475 miles = 9 hours). God has blessed us with such beautiful unity out here and a deep love for one another--we're truly family. All of the people who had to sacrifice to be at this funeral considered it no sacrifice at all--it was never a consideration that they might NOT attend. It was beautiful. I'm continuously reminded of what God's Church is all about and sooooooo thankful to be a part of it.
The funeral started at 2:00. At least, that's when it was scheduled to start. I think it began late, but I'm not sure. The family had actually inteded to have Brother Clarkson's casket brought into the funeral LATE ("He was never on time during his life, it just wouldn't be right if he was early today..."), but I think the funeral director just couldn't bring himself to do that. :-) The funeral was very, very nice and Keven Lewis did a wonderful job officiating. My favorite part was when the three Clarkson boys all went up front together to talk about their Dad and share some memories. They stood there side by side, taking turns speaking while the others patted them on the shoulder and put their arms each other--it was just so very, very "Clarkson." The boys were just so close and truly bearing each other's grief, not concentrating on just their own. It was so neat. And it was great to see C.P. and Chad. Do keep them in your prayers. I don't know C.P.'s condition (he ACTS saved???), but Chad is most definitely not saved. God is certainly working on him though--and Chad will tell you as much--and he knows what he needs to do. His heart is tender right now and I know it would be worth it all to Brother Clarkson if his death meant the salvation of his sons. Please keep them in prayer.
After the funeral we all headed out to the cemetery for the windiest graveside service in the history of mankind. Good grief!!! James was in charge of that one and he was good to keep it short, but it was really nice, too. They had the Honor Guard there because of Brother Clarkson's time in the service years ago. That was soooo neat! It was a bunch of old retired men and they weren't "crisp" and perfectly in step, but their hearts were in it and you could tell it truly meant something to them. The gentleman that presented the flag to Sister Clarkson was crying as he spoke to her. It was so neat. (I've never seen any of this before except maybe on TV, so I thought it was beautiful!)
Afterward we went back to the church for the reception and visited for a couple more hours. During that time James decided that since we were this close (only 4 or 5 hours) to one of our churches we should probably stay over and make a church visit on Sunday. (We wouldn't have been able to make it home to Albuquerque for service anyway.) So we followed Dustin & Jamey Hays back to Colorado Springs and stayed the night with them. We got there at about midnight and stayed up visiting until 3:00!!! When we discovered it was that late (we had NO IDEA), we scooted ourselves off to bed right quick!
Dustin & Jamey cooked a nice breakast for us the next morning (I hope they don't expect the same treatment when they stay with us next week--I'm terrible about breakfast! Ha!) and we all got ready for their church service at 1:00. We enjoyed a good Sunday School lesson (I LOVED it since I'm always teaching the little ones and not able to be in big people SS class!), really good worship (I've never NOT been blessed by a song service led my Sister Karen--she just sort of draws the worship out of you, you know?!), and then James preached a message... but to be quite honest, I was so tired by that time that I retained very little of it! Hopefully the people who were smart enough to go to bed before 3:00 the night before got more out of it! Ha!
We went out to eat at the Mason Jar after lunch (James' favorite) and were slapped with an 18% gratuity on our bill! Can you believe that?! Actually, on DUSTIN'S bill, since he "won" and James forfeited the "I'm paying"-"No, I'm paying" war. (We'll make it up to him next week! Ha!)
We went back to the Hays house and just relaxed for the rest of the day. It was GREAT! It's just so nice to be able to fellowship. It seems like we've been able to do that so rarely up until recently and I'm loving it! It's so different being in Albuquerque. I miss Sam & Tammy something terrible and on an every day basis it gets pretty lonely as far as local fellowship. But it does seem like being here has enabled us to encounter the other church folk in the region more frequently, so that part is wonderful!
Yesterday morning we drug ourselves out of bed and were all loaded up and ready to leave at the break of 10:00. ;-) We drove over to Mardel--James has been having withdrawal--and there is NO good Christian bookstore in Albuquerque! We spent a lot of time and money there (!) and then decided to take Platte so we could eat lunch at Fargo's on our way out of town. The kids love it almost as much as James does. :-) It is really neat there and--I think we're the only ones in the world who think so, but--the pizza is good, too. It was fun.
We drove the 6 hours home and got unloaded last night. I started the laundry, but only had enough gusto for one load! That's the project today. Along with getting this gross house whipped into shape. James is going to be finishing up on the wall in the kitchen today, making it fully ready to be wallpapered. (The extra roll of wallpaper came while we were gone! Wa-Hoo!) I've got to concentrate on getting things CLEAN today--and the laundry and ironing done (haven't done it since James got home from Arizona!)--and if there's time (???) I would LOVE to get the rest of the kitchen wallpapered! Emilee and the kids will be coming tomorrow. I'm soooooo excited!!! COMPANY!!! I'm going to have COMPANY!!! Jon & Em for the weekend--along with Tim Cox who is coming as our last minute-emergency-fill-in-guest-speaker due to the Clarkson funeral and having to reschedule Youth Convention--and then Dustin & Jamey will be stayed part or all of next week so Dustin can work his electrical magic on our house. :-) That's three batches of company all in one big sweep! (If Tim Cox can truly qualify as a "batch" all alone! Ha!) I am just so, so, so, so, so excited! ~sigh~ Company. Life is grand. :-)
BUT, if I don't get busy on this house none of our company will want to stick around (!), so I'm going to go get busy. I just thought I'd be sure to get my priorities straight and blog first. :-)
~Rebekah~
We left Friday morning and headed to the booming metropolises of Springfield and Campo, Colorado. Wow. Campo must have all of... 150 people living there? We were told told that we would be staying in the parsonage across the street from the Baptist church, so that's where we went first. We moved into the kitchen (the house is vacant, but the locals had supplied it with air mattresses and blankets and juice and snacks and towels and all sorts of thoughtful things), then changed clothes and headed the 20 miles up to Springfield for the viewing.
Those things are never pleasant and, of course, there were lots of tears. Still, it was just so good to see all of the Clarksons and to just be with them. I felt so terrible that we couldn't be with them at the hospital this last week and it felt like a visit was long overdue. We were at the funeral home for a couple of hours, then we all headed over to Sister Clarkson's sister's house in Campo for dinner that all of the townsfolk had provided. (It is the most amazing and accomadating little town in the world--they were sooooooo friendly and generous and thoughtful!) The Lewis' were there and the Hays, along with our family and all of the Clarkson bunch... and perhaps some that I'm forgetting? I know this sounds terrible, but we had a wonderful time! I just can't begin to express how much better I feel after being with the Clarksons. Death is always such a cruel thing (at least our human minds struggle with that view of it) and it's not easy for anybody to deal with--and Clarksons seem to feel 10x what your average person would feel--and I've just been so worried about them and wondering how they were coping with all of this. But it's evident that God is showering them with His wonderful and amazing GRACE and although the road ahead is sure to be a difficult one, God is helping them and they're going to be alright.
After we visited for a while (and planned the funeral--in true last-minute Clarkson fashion! Ha!), we headed back to the parsonage where we stayed with the Hays and the Lewis'. The next morning we all got up and just hung out (and took turns with the ONE shower in the house--which was a blessing to have at all!) and then headed over to the church at 11:30 for the meal they had provided. We had a nice time of visiting and I was amazed (but really not surprised) and truly touched by the number of church folk who were able to attend. I think I counted 48 of them (not counting any Clarksons, of course) who came. That may not sound like a lot to those of you who aren't familiar with our region. We're rather small out here, and if you looked at a map it would help--because our AREA is NOT small! We had people come from as far as Andrews, Texas (380 miles = 7 hours), Alamogordo, New Mexico (405 miles = 8 hours) and Craig, Colorado (475 miles = 9 hours). God has blessed us with such beautiful unity out here and a deep love for one another--we're truly family. All of the people who had to sacrifice to be at this funeral considered it no sacrifice at all--it was never a consideration that they might NOT attend. It was beautiful. I'm continuously reminded of what God's Church is all about and sooooooo thankful to be a part of it.
The funeral started at 2:00. At least, that's when it was scheduled to start. I think it began late, but I'm not sure. The family had actually inteded to have Brother Clarkson's casket brought into the funeral LATE ("He was never on time during his life, it just wouldn't be right if he was early today..."), but I think the funeral director just couldn't bring himself to do that. :-) The funeral was very, very nice and Keven Lewis did a wonderful job officiating. My favorite part was when the three Clarkson boys all went up front together to talk about their Dad and share some memories. They stood there side by side, taking turns speaking while the others patted them on the shoulder and put their arms each other--it was just so very, very "Clarkson." The boys were just so close and truly bearing each other's grief, not concentrating on just their own. It was so neat. And it was great to see C.P. and Chad. Do keep them in your prayers. I don't know C.P.'s condition (he ACTS saved???), but Chad is most definitely not saved. God is certainly working on him though--and Chad will tell you as much--and he knows what he needs to do. His heart is tender right now and I know it would be worth it all to Brother Clarkson if his death meant the salvation of his sons. Please keep them in prayer.
After the funeral we all headed out to the cemetery for the windiest graveside service in the history of mankind. Good grief!!! James was in charge of that one and he was good to keep it short, but it was really nice, too. They had the Honor Guard there because of Brother Clarkson's time in the service years ago. That was soooo neat! It was a bunch of old retired men and they weren't "crisp" and perfectly in step, but their hearts were in it and you could tell it truly meant something to them. The gentleman that presented the flag to Sister Clarkson was crying as he spoke to her. It was so neat. (I've never seen any of this before except maybe on TV, so I thought it was beautiful!)
Afterward we went back to the church for the reception and visited for a couple more hours. During that time James decided that since we were this close (only 4 or 5 hours) to one of our churches we should probably stay over and make a church visit on Sunday. (We wouldn't have been able to make it home to Albuquerque for service anyway.) So we followed Dustin & Jamey Hays back to Colorado Springs and stayed the night with them. We got there at about midnight and stayed up visiting until 3:00!!! When we discovered it was that late (we had NO IDEA), we scooted ourselves off to bed right quick!
Dustin & Jamey cooked a nice breakast for us the next morning (I hope they don't expect the same treatment when they stay with us next week--I'm terrible about breakfast! Ha!) and we all got ready for their church service at 1:00. We enjoyed a good Sunday School lesson (I LOVED it since I'm always teaching the little ones and not able to be in big people SS class!), really good worship (I've never NOT been blessed by a song service led my Sister Karen--she just sort of draws the worship out of you, you know?!), and then James preached a message... but to be quite honest, I was so tired by that time that I retained very little of it! Hopefully the people who were smart enough to go to bed before 3:00 the night before got more out of it! Ha!
We went out to eat at the Mason Jar after lunch (James' favorite) and were slapped with an 18% gratuity on our bill! Can you believe that?! Actually, on DUSTIN'S bill, since he "won" and James forfeited the "I'm paying"-"No, I'm paying" war. (We'll make it up to him next week! Ha!)
We went back to the Hays house and just relaxed for the rest of the day. It was GREAT! It's just so nice to be able to fellowship. It seems like we've been able to do that so rarely up until recently and I'm loving it! It's so different being in Albuquerque. I miss Sam & Tammy something terrible and on an every day basis it gets pretty lonely as far as local fellowship. But it does seem like being here has enabled us to encounter the other church folk in the region more frequently, so that part is wonderful!
Yesterday morning we drug ourselves out of bed and were all loaded up and ready to leave at the break of 10:00. ;-) We drove over to Mardel--James has been having withdrawal--and there is NO good Christian bookstore in Albuquerque! We spent a lot of time and money there (!) and then decided to take Platte so we could eat lunch at Fargo's on our way out of town. The kids love it almost as much as James does. :-) It is really neat there and--I think we're the only ones in the world who think so, but--the pizza is good, too. It was fun.
We drove the 6 hours home and got unloaded last night. I started the laundry, but only had enough gusto for one load! That's the project today. Along with getting this gross house whipped into shape. James is going to be finishing up on the wall in the kitchen today, making it fully ready to be wallpapered. (The extra roll of wallpaper came while we were gone! Wa-Hoo!) I've got to concentrate on getting things CLEAN today--and the laundry and ironing done (haven't done it since James got home from Arizona!)--and if there's time (???) I would LOVE to get the rest of the kitchen wallpapered! Emilee and the kids will be coming tomorrow. I'm soooooo excited!!! COMPANY!!! I'm going to have COMPANY!!! Jon & Em for the weekend--along with Tim Cox who is coming as our last minute-emergency-fill-in-guest-speaker due to the Clarkson funeral and having to reschedule Youth Convention--and then Dustin & Jamey will be stayed part or all of next week so Dustin can work his electrical magic on our house. :-) That's three batches of company all in one big sweep! (If Tim Cox can truly qualify as a "batch" all alone! Ha!) I am just so, so, so, so, so excited! ~sigh~ Company. Life is grand. :-)
BUT, if I don't get busy on this house none of our company will want to stick around (!), so I'm going to go get busy. I just thought I'd be sure to get my priorities straight and blog first. :-)
~Rebekah~
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