REMEMBERING MY PARENTS

Ten years ago today my dear mother, Joyce Kathleen Bowen (nee Grant) passed from this life into glory. She had always hoped that she would would go "up with the shout" according to 1 Thessalonians 4:16, "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." However, she went on earlier! My mother loved to talk about the coming of the Lord and of heaven. In fact, she loved to talk about the Lord to whoever came into her home.

I love the words which Pearl wrote about her Nana, taken from her article, "More Than Toast and Pots and Pans." Pearl takes after her grandmother in character and looks. "It was in her kitchen that she welcomed friends and those who were lonely. An herb tea made in a pottery teapot and "something nourishing to eat" were the items on her menu during visiting hours... though there never seemed to be a closing time. But it wasn't just for the homemade food they came. It was the listening ear she offered and the well chosen words of counsel. Her kitchen was not only a place to feed the hungry, it was a psychiatry office with a stool for a couch."

Sadly, I didn't get to see my dear mother before she passed away. She went to glory while I was on the plane trip to New Zealand. When I arrived at Los Angeles I received word that she was gone. It was a hard trip to fly all the way to New Zealand knowing that I had missed her.

It is now just over a year that my dear father (Ivan Verdun Bowen) passed away--29th December, 2007. Fortunately, I arrived back in New Zealand in time to spend some days with my father. What a privilege it was to be with him as he took his last breath on this earth.

I feel so very blessed to have been raised by such wonderful and godly parents, parents who loved us, lived for us and encouraged us continually. They passed the baton of God's ways onto us faithfully. Colin and I are now seeking to pass it on faithfully to the next generations. What power there is in building godly generations.

I remember my father's father (Walter Eugene Bowen) and my grandmother (Catherine Rudman Wall) who also loved the Lord. They trained their five boys to walk in the ways of the Lord too. I am now the third generation from my grandparents, our children are the fourth generation and our 35 grandchildren (so far) are the fifth generation--all walking in the ways of the Lord. I trust that by God's grace I will see a sixth generation in my life time.

Thank you, Lord.