Fallen Hero

Rachel's Grandaddy passed away from complications with cancer last Saturday. That's the main reason we've been out-of-pocket recently. He had been in the Navy in WWII and we have reason to believe that he was one of the original Navy SEALs. They didn't call them SEALs then, and the general public didn't even know about them because their missions were so clandestine. He was telling a story just before he died about doing a practice dive under their vessel while his buddies were up on the deck taking care of his life support. While he was down, they started drinking and forgot to supply his air. He had to surface and was pretty pissed. In any case, it was (and still is) very rare to be a diver. Divers were generally either researchers or mine clearers (one of the many ops the original SEALs carried out). That's really just a side-story to the good, Christian man he was. My father-in-law Kevin and his twin brother Keith helped to preach the funeral and said many good things about him and his simple faith. It was touching and meaningful. I had the privilege of knowing my Grandfathers well and the funeral brought back many memories of them for me. Rachel's Grandfather reminded me of them in the kindly, loving way he spoke and the twinkle he had in his eye when he saw Luke. Seeing that joy in my parents and Rachel's parents is a true blessing. Please pray for Rachel's family during this time of loss.