{"id":7370,"date":"2013-08-13T09:56:48","date_gmt":"2013-08-13T16:56:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/?p=7370"},"modified":"2013-08-13T12:06:30","modified_gmt":"2013-08-13T19:06:30","slug":"garys-going-gone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/2013\/08\/13\/garys-going-gone\/","title":{"rendered":"Gary’s Going . . . Gone"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Wild-Geese\"<\/a><\/h6>\n
The picture and intro from Gary’s blog:<\/span>
\nCeltic tradition identifies the Holy Spirit as a Wild Goose. He is the wings of a Wild God best followed by the wildest of men. I’m gray. I’m wild. Like He, I am not always predictable, rational, or safe. I believe my full life and my still maturing years of Walking With God offer both heart and substance for younger lads to consider. Now with 4th stage prostate cancer, following the Wild Goose has a different pace and perspective worth reflecting on…and sharing.<\/em><\/span><\/h6>\n

Imagine my surprise when I received the following in response to the last blog: “Hey, pal, I’m in hospice now. You kept me buoyed to the end.\u00a0 Slip me off your list.”<\/span><\/p>\n

It took me a minute to identify the source. Then I remembered Gary, someone I met only twice, three years ago, but he’s been receiving the blogs and commenting occasionally. And always saying he was going to come by, but then the cancer got in the way. He’s three years my senior.<\/p>\n

He was working on a book, too, and asked me to contribute once. It was on \u201cfathering.\u201d And he and his son (or was it son-in-law?) had a ranch in Colorado for \u201cwhole family therapy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gary’s was a way of talking, and writing, that was definitely \u201cwestern\u201d and immediately friendly. And though he seemed always on the brink of a story with a rye smile, he was utterly serious about his Christianity.<\/p>\n

His blog was named\u00a0Wild Gray Goose, <\/em>which he explained in an intro, quoted at left.<\/p>\n

After he sent me his \u201cunsubscribe\u201d note I looked up his last entry. He gave me permission to share it with you.<\/p>\n

FRIDAY, AUGUST 09, 2013<\/span><\/p>\n

HOOOONK! We All Have to Go Sometime<\/span><\/p>\n

This ‘un’s short just to refresh your read of my last post back\u00a0in July.\u00a0The phrase is almost universal; seems to give micro-comfort on hearing of a death three or more friendship circles out, never about someone we hold dear or even know.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let’s call it a filler that prevents most of us from thinking too deeply about eternity and how we get “there” (“There” being a place of peace, usually called “Heaven”).\u00a0 It reminds me of the\u00a0stupidest of all fillers, “He\/she’s is a ‘better place.”\u00a0 Really?\u00a0 Place? And where is that?\u00a0 What is that?\u00a0 And, how do we get to this amorphous-but-wonderful\u00a0“better place”?<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, if you follow this blog or my personal emails, my “Sometime” is fast approaching. I make this post as a way to prod you to consider life ahead and how much you want to do to fill the “Sometime” gap.\u00a0 We who follow the wild goose, the Holy Spirit, and all His wonderful promptings, proddings, and His gifts of joy know that in having to go sometime, the final leg of the journey is just a foretaste of eternity ahead.\u00a0 One choice, two places.\u00a0 One better, one way not.<\/span><\/p>\n

HOOOOONK!\u00a0 ‘Scuse.\u00a0 Gotta go. The Wild Gray Goose has to\u00a0follow the Wild Goose.\u00a0 With joy current and anticipated.<\/span><\/p>\n

That’s it. A man full of spirit and clear-eyed anticipation of where he’s going, having left a legacy as best he could, in his unique way.<\/p>\n

It’s inspiring, really. And a flight path for all of us.<\/p>\n

Good bye, Gary. See you soon enough.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here are some words of uplift from a friend who’s been soaring all along, and just about to soar away.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7370"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7370"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7370\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7400,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7370\/revisions\/7400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}