Grandpa Kinkel

“I will hurry, without delay, to obey your commands.” Psalm 119:60 NLT

This week immediately turned into memorial week again. after finishing a memorial video for dear friends of mine. My own grandpa past away. As I read and think on this scripture this morning I think of all the mugs that my grandpa had, one for each of his seven kids. Each mug represented each child in a unique way. With 7 kids, he had 7 days, he would give them there own day for prayer with there mug during each meal. As i sip from my Disney mug this morning, I'm reminded of how impulsive grandpa was and then of how impulsive I am. This verse reminds me of how every time I asked grandpa what he had to say after 50 and 60 plus years of marriage, he continued to say, keep focused on Christ. Keep Christ the center of your life, every day. Ironically on Monday, it had been a year since I had started putting my thoughts about God online. On Monday grandpa past away. I don't know what that means if anything but I couldn't but reflect on Grandpas passion for God. He was such a simple thinker, always searching and studying, yet when the theological discussion around the dinner table became thick, he would interject with "I'm just so thankful for the grace of God on my life". If you had ever been at the table with Grandpa and grandma and her excellent mexican food, you'd better be ready to meet strangers who quickly became friends. Grandpa wasn't perfect, but he was a great example of a God fearing man. I inhereted his routine oriented style and his bad spelling. Grandpa had his daily routine, his exercises. Grandpa also was into memories, he wanted me to transfer all the 8mm film to vhs back in 2000, and before that make the 50th anniversay video. I have to credit him and my kinkel family for being one of the main sources of my beginning days of video. And now with his memorial video in production, it seems like all of us cousins are putting this together. We're all grown up now. I thought about it today, Grandpa passed away when his kids were grandparents. Hits me, Grandpa would often greet us grandsons with "Hi son!". Grandpa was clumsy, that was because of his passion for what he did, he was such an a artist and precise. Always giving credit to God, even when Susan, Shayne and I went to visit him a week ago, he gave credit to God and the pointed to Grandma to see what she had to say. Grandpa strided to obey God and rushed at any chance to trust Him. 2 hours after he passed grandma put her hand his cold head and said " hi sweaty, your so cold" she looked at my dad with a confused look. He said "mom, dad has passed away, he's in heaven now".For the first time it seemed, I couldn't put my eye to viewfinder, I couldn't hit record. The fact that my dad said what he said, just spoke of the legacy that grandpa had left. Grandpa kept faithful to God and his family for 60 plus years of their married life, he was hard worker. His work ethic has come down to all of us kids 3 and 4 generations. Knowing Grandpa, he ran through gates of glory without delay with his new body. And all us he left behind, will continue to hurry and follow this legacy he left behind. As I finish this mornings entry, I need to get my wife up with her cup of coffee, and we'll talk of God's glory.