This is my 200th blog post.  A milestone.  It’s also one year ago today that my Dad went home to be with the Lord.

A different kind of milestone.

When I realized both of these things would fall on the same day, I wondered if I should mention one and not the other.  And then I realized how perfectly appropriate it was to lay these significant markers side by side.

It’s been three years and 200 posts written about faith and trust and perseverance and hanging on with hope.  And it’s been one year of putting that all into practice in a way I hadn’t imagined I’d need to – at least not yet.

The blog posts have been about the waiting and hoping in this life, but Dad’s “anticipatience” has already been rewarded.  Everything he looked forward to, everything he longed for while he was still with us has been revealed to him in ways he never could have imagined.  Those of us on this side of eternity are still waiting.

And that’s why I’ll keep writing.

Because sometimes it’s good to know we’re not in this alone.  It’s good to share the “lessons learned in the waiting”.  Maybe share a few laughs and tears along the way, too.

God has been good.  And that’s what milestones are for.  To mark those places where we can stop, look over our shoulders and see that God has never left us.  He’s been right there with us on the journey, providing everything we need to keep moving ahead – moving ahead towards the day when our hope will be fulfilled like Dad’s was last January 23rd.

So I’m setting up a few markers today and celebrating these milestones in my own way.

And I’m looking forward to what comes next.

That this may be a sign among you when your children ask in time to come, saying, “What do these stones mean to you?”. Then you shall answer them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it crossed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. And these stones shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever.  Joshua 4:6-7

That they may set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments.  Psalm 78:7

Remember His marvelous works which He has done, His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth. Psalm 105:5