“REED” This

 

Gussie

 

You may remember my quick trip to my mother’s old house that I told you about last week. While still there, I was able to go through a few things and actually stop to read some of them before they were packed away in a box. One of those things were some old senior adult newsletters from my former church in Florida that I had sent to my mother and she had kept. I told her I didn’t know she had kept them. She told me she didn’t know she had either. Be that as it may, there were several of them filed together and I read one that struck me. I decided to go back into my “‘REED’ This” files and find it so I could share it with you. As you’ll see, it was written over twenty years ago, but it is still very relevant. Here it is:

 

Before I was old enough to go to school, I remember waking up, usually after everyone else had gone, and going into the den to watch Kaptin Kangaroo. There would be my baby-sitter, Gussie, waiting with my breakfast and my purple cow. For those of you who don’t know what a purple cow is, it’s milk and grape juice mixed together. I still don’t know why I liked it. It sounds terrible to me now. Anyway, Gussie was an elderly lady who was a great baby-sitter. I remember her letting me watch whatever TV program I wanted to and when I was ready to go outside, she was ready to go outside and play with me. I remember going over to her house and playing with all of her cats. She had at least 50, and she was always kind to let me take one home with me. Sometimes we would take a walk down to her pasture and to the little bridge for the train. After I was old enough for school, she would still sit with me on occasions. And going to school each morning we would pass by her big house up on the hill. Even when I was in high school I would look over and say to myself, “I need to go visit with Gussie.” But, I never got around to it.

 

I was talking on the phone with my mother the other day and she informed me that Gussie had died. The news saddened me as I had lost a friend. We talked a bit and my mother said it was sad reading her obituary. She was not a member of a church and she had no family of her own. My mother told me she never knew if Gussie was a Christian. That upset us more than anything. All these years had passed and we had never talked to her about her salvation. Those times I needed to stop and sit with her when I was in high school could have been times of sharing my faith. Now, it was too late. I won’t know about Gussie until I go to heaven. I hope to see her there.

 

I ask you, “Do you have a Gussie in your life?” With what special person do you need to share your faith? Do it now, before your chance is gone.

 

Paul C. Reed

April 16, 1997

 

 

“But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus – the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.” Acts 20:24 NLT

 

Bro. Paul Reed

 

Tuesday, May 4, 2021