Times flies

I have just realised that it's the spring has sprung and it's September and life in Christchurch will not quite be the same. I have been meaning to post for several weeks now. 13th of August was the third anniversary of Elijah, returning to the Lord. We marked the day as a family took time out and spent some time at his grave at the cemetery. I purposely took time off the day before as well so I could work on a Elijah related project for this anniversary. I had been working on it for a while and it was going to take some time to complete in time.

The project was to get the video footage of Elijah's Family Vigil and Funeral Mass online and in segments that folks could watch One of the reasons I wanted to share this was that in the three years mostly due to Elijah, I have met and been accompanied on the Journey by people who walk with me from all over the world and have gotten to know Elijah and the Humphries family since then, Those of you who read this blog know that I have shared things in a raw way and without pretense and so here I am sharing with you an intimate part of the Journey with Elijah.

I have created two pages and invite you to share on the Journey

The First if the Vigil Footage

http://humphriesnz.wordpress.com/vigil/

The Second it the Funeral Mass and Cemetery - lots of people did come to the cemetery with us at our open invitation and it was just right that people helped us with that part of the Journey as well

http://humphriesnz.wordpress.com/35-2/

With this post - I also want to mark the passing of our Parish Priest - Fr Miles O'Malley - he is in the funeral footage and was with us in a special was in the last hours of Elijah's "earthly" life - Go well Miles

I also want to mark the passing of our Parish Church - St Pauls in Dallington due to a 7.1 earthquake two weeks ago

A Hero

Facebook has provided me with and continues to provide me with many opportunities to connect with families across the world some from the early days following Elijah's diagnosis who I have connected with on Facebook. As much as it has been me making the connections - Elijah has been at the forefront of it as well. His smile and his demeanour have touched an spoken to many people. Our Journey speaks in many ways to those we connect with. Many of those neither of us will met this side of eternity. One of these people the mother of a boy Moses shared something this week which spoke volumes to me, stirred my spirit and shed some light on Journey


 There is a passage in Lord of the Rings that has always stuck with me. A hero, a great king, dies and Tolkien writes… “When he died a Great Beauty was revealed in him so that all who looked on him saw that the Grace of his youth, the Valor of his full manhood, and the Wisdom & Majesty of his age were all blended together so that he became an image of Splendor.


This reminded me of Elijah - I think there is something about his countenance since he died that attracts people. I continue to be inspired to share the rawness of the Journey. I know there is something about sharing the rawness and with vulnerability that is attractive. I know it give people hope for the Journey, it inspires, it encourages.


How can I not share ? I am compelled to ! Elijah cheers me on from the grandstand - come on Dad - go for it Dad, keeping going Dad. And so I do


As proud as he is of me - I am of him