greekgiggler

Pappou, 

I know I didn’t get to see you very often living in Illinois, and I regret not visiting more. Sometimes I wish I would of grew up in Boston just so I would get to know more of the wonderful you all my cousins and family talk about.

I do remember though, before the Alzheimers, before you had lost your memory, how wonderful of a grandpa and man you were. You always read your Bible everyday and loved yiayia and all of us as a family with all your heart. You loved Jesus, and people could tell. You lived a life of overflowing love, just as Jesus does. You were such a great Godly example for me and if it weren’t for you or your sister, I would have not known Jesus the same way I do today or even at all for that matter. Who knows where I would have been now. God used you in so many ways in your lifetime to glorify Him.

I will always remember the one story my mom once told me about you. How when you were a painter, painting all the walls white (haha), you used to sing joyfully.  The man who you were painting for asked you, “Why are you so happy? You’re not rich!” And you gladly replied, “Oh, I’m VERY rich! I have JESUS!”

That story will always run through my mind when I think about you. You were a man who rejoiced always for the Lord. I want to be like that.

People saw Christ in you. I wish I knew back then what I know now. I would have asked you so many questions. I wish I wasn’t so young when you started forgetting..

I wish I had been in Boston with you for all these years.

I wish Eleni would have grown up with you like all of us did.

I wish my brother got to see you before today happened..

I wish a lot of things.

I’m sad. Yet I’m also at peace.

I’m at peace because I know you have the same hope that I do in Jesus.

I know that you’ll be with Jesus now singing praises to Him because you had faith in Him. You lived for Jesus.

I wish there were more people like you today pappou. More people who would live for Jesus like you did. Our culture expects so little of us today.

I remember praying that at your last moments, that you would at least remember for that moment. And you did. God answered my prayers. And although I wasn’t able to see it, my mom did. And in that moment, God showed me just a small glimpse of Him through that miracle.

I cry for what happened today Pappou.

Not for losing you, because I know I will see you again, and you’re happy with Jesus.

But I cry because of the years I missed you. The years that I never got to spend with you.

But I can’t do anything about that. So I need to move on.

I love you Pappou. And you’re my example for what it is like to live for Christ.

And through this tragedy Pappou, I will be able to magnify God’s glory because of the life that you lived for Him.

3.29.12

P.S. I hope I never get white hair like you never did. ;)

Today was so refreshing.

I’ve been so discouraged lately and starving of spiritual food.

When it comes to physical food, I have so much around me.

I eat when I’m hungry. I eat when I’m bored.

But when it comes to the Bible, the Word that God has graciously given us, I push it off.

I starve myself of it until I can no longer feel a hunger for it.

The desire to “eat” or read you can say, leaves me.

But today was different.

You see, we’re starting these LTG groups within our college ministry now. Life Transformation Groups to clarify.

Within these groups, we are open, honest, vulnerable, confess sin, pray together, keep each other accountable, and we read the Bible. A lot of it.

The funny thing is, I’m a procrastinator.

And even worse, I’ve been keeping this reading, to re-read the whole book of John for my LTG group off for about a month.

I had no excuse for not reading it.

But the ironic thing is, my procrastinating is actually what helped me.

I procrastinated so much that I tried to read the whole book of John before the meeting.

I almost finished it, being the slow reader that I am, but it helped me.

You see, whenever I did read, it would be about a chapter a day.

If you convert that into physical food, that’s probably like.. let’s say a cucumber a day.

Not too much. Not enough to feel full and satisfied.

Because I had put off my reading for so long, I had to read a lot of chapters in one sitting.

It’s like working out.

The more you work out, the more endorphins are they called? Yes, I think so. The more endorphins you release, making you happier, and more excited to work out.

That’s kinda how I felt reading so much in one sitting.

The more I read, the more excited I was to read more.

Of course God helped me by giving me this desire for more of Him. More spiritual food.

We take it for granted too especially in America.

We have so much physical food that we throw out every day.

We’re a country of people without self-control.

Many of us eat too much physical food and leave the Word untouched or barely if anything.

With how many different languages and versions of the Bible and other books and sources to help us to understand it, many of us still put it off.

In some countries, there is no sight of a Bible anywhere.

In fact, you can be killed for even having one.

Yet, still, we push it to the side.

We take it for granted.

So thank you Jesus, for giving me a desire, a hunger for Your food.

And I pray that I will have this hunger every day of my life.

so cute. :)

(Source: pixiv.net)