“Behind the the clouds the sun is still shining.” - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
The day before Thanksgiving 48 years ago, I was in the 8th week of my 3-year Army enlistment. B-5-1 was making the hour-and-half march back to barracks. It was cold, with a wet snow falling, and the sky going from gray to black of night. SSG Bolonis advised us to just keep putting one foot in front of the other.
We did make back to the barracks and the 3 years did pass. I eventually came back to the church and that led me to faith. I don't know if SSG Bolonis was religious or not; I do know that he always had hope and tried to instill it in us.
The first Good Friday the sky turned black and Sunday the Sun shone brighter than it ever had shone before. Now if the days are gray or things seem black, I know that God's offer of hope is eternal. Jesus was the birth of a new kind of peace and hope. No matter how dark the clouds, the light of peace and hope shines brighter than ever.
Rick
Withycombe's journey at St. Paul began
November 22, 1975, when he and his wife, Jean, were married.
