Land Ho!

I am happy to report that I made it through my first birthday without my wife in almost half a century with hardly any difficult emotional upheavals!  And I would like to thank each and everyone of you that shared a birthday greeting with me, be it on Facebook, by text, phone call, Facetime call or greeting card.  For most of the day, I didn’t have time to think about the void in my life as I was overwhelmed with everyone’s outpouring of love toward me.

I started out the day with a drive into town for a haircut, followed by a stop at Home Depot for some floor tile adhesive/grout and to check out a few landscaping ideas I had and ended it with a trip to my local CVS to pick up a couple of my prescriptions.  Piper and I went into that store so often that the employees there feel like family to us!  When the Pharmacy Tech asked for my birth date like they normally do for security purposes, I just sort of blurted out “today!” and she immediately broke out into singing Happy Birthday to me… right in front of everyone!  It was actually very cool – it made me feel special… which is something I really haven’t felt since Piper’s passing.

Once I got home the phone calls, texts and Facebook posts started pouring in, so, like I said, I felt like I was surrounded by family and friends all day.  Then after I’d retired for the evening and was reading in bed, I received a final phone call from our youngest son.  After we talked for awhile and finally said our good-byes, I laid back down on the pillow and kind of felt like the Walton’s TV show when everyone would say goodnight at the end of each episode… I had that warm feeling and my day was complete!

One thing I did think about later in the afternoon yesterday, was that after being almost inseparable from someone for just shy of 50 years, life from this point on looks to be VERY different then it was before!  I realized that Piper and I first began to get to know each other, along with a group of 10 or so friends that hung out together, at the beginning of our Junior year in High School back in 1969.  Piper would have just turned 16 a few weeks before the beginning of that school year.  I was exactly 5 months older then her… and obviously much more mature…. I’m kidding of course!  I always thought that Piper was very mature for her age.

Sure, she had an actively adventurous side in her, but she was wise and even at her tender age was already very spiritually discerning to things going on around her.  That’s not to say that we didn’t do a bunch of silly and maybe even stupid things together, but God always protected us and managed to teach us through our mistakes.

I will admit though, that Piper never lost that adventurous side of her.  As I’ve mentioned before, we were both “pioneers” and tended to be on the lookout for new adventures in life, in our personal faith and in our ministry calling.  That is an important part of us that I always felt that some in both our families never quite understood.  Some of us are called to be “settlers” while others are “pioneers” with a fire in them to forge new trails through the great frontiers of life and faith.  Shhhh… listen…I can hear the call now… “Land Ho!”

As I’ve mentioned many times before, we always had a simple faith.  If God’s Word said it, we believed it and when led to do so, we acted upon it.  God’s Word always had the first and final say-so on our decisions.  To us, God’s Word had even more power and say-so in our lives than what our eyes, ears and other physical senses might be telling us that was contrary to the Word we were standing on.

I have awoken every morning over the past six months since Piper’s home-going with the words of Psalm 118:24 on my lips before my feet ever hit the floor saying: “This is the day that the Lord has made and I will rejoice and be glad in it.” (KJV – personalized) Then with my first steps across the carpet I begin to proclaim that “I can do all things today, through Christ who is strengthening me.” (Philippians 4:13, KJV-personalized)

After I take the dog out and make the coffee, I usually find myself in the shower remembering the words of the great turn of the century evangelist Smith Wigglesworth and taking them for myself saying:  “I don’t go by the way that Jim Berruto feels or thinks today, I choose to go by what the Word says about me… for I am who the Word says I am and I can do what the Word says I can do!”

Lately there are many days… okay, most days… where it is very difficult for me to see beyond the horizon into tomorrow.  But I am thankful for the compass of the Word that gives me the steady and faithful support and directions to carry me through the unchartered lands ahead.  Even though I can’t feel it or explain it, I know that as I trust in the Word that I will make it through okay!  After all… I’m still a PIONEER, right?  There is just a whole new frontier out there to be explored and I might as well be the man to do it… with God at my side… if I remember correctly, Proverbs 3:6 tells us that God will direct my paths!  See, He’s got it all covered!

Have a great weekend, and as you do, continue to say with me… “I am continuing to expect God to lead me through each and every day of my life!”