Tuesday, December 3, 2013

The Other Side of the Fire



I’m happy to welcome Dianne E. Butts, the author of the second chapter of A Ruby Christmas. Dianne introduced Ruby to an interesting character who taught her how to trust God and begin to heal from her grief.

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In A Ruby Christmas, my chapter takes place in Colorado and includes bikers. My brother, Fred, rode a Harley Davidson. He bought it just before he went into the Marine Corp in 1974 and left it with a friend of his while he was gone. When he’d come home on leave, he would go get it and ride.

He gave me my first motorcycle ride (on an old Honda, before he got the Harley. I never got a ride on the Harley). When I was old enough to get a driver’s license, I got a motorcycle too and I’ve been riding ever since.

Fred’s birthday was December 14th. Mom would never allow us to set up the Christmas tree or decorate the house until after his birthday because she did not want him to get cheated out of his birthday celebration.

On June 23, 1977, Fred was home on leave and was riding his Harley when a drunk driver pulled out in front of him. He died at the scene. He was 22 years old. 

This connects with me with the Ruby story because Ruby and her dad are grieving her mom’s death—even eight years later. This year will be 36 Christmases without my brother, but my Mom still doesn’t set up her Christmas tree until after December 14th. We still miss him.

This year I also had a motorcycle accident – on June 9th. I survived my crash, although my motorcycle was totaled. 

I remember after Fred died my mom wrote a poem to God about how God’s son, Jesus, had died too. She was grateful God gave her a son for a little while. 

I’m glad Jesus came so that we can have life beyond death when we trust Jesus as our Savior and that we can look forward to seeing our saved loved ones again. For those grieving the loss of a loved one this Christmas, as our Ruby is, I hope this brings them hope and comfort, and restores joy to their Christmas.

The theme of my chapter in Ruby is that there is life on the other side of the fire, life that would not exist if we didn’t go through the fire.

My favorite Scripture verse after I came to know Jesus as Savior has been 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (NIV 1984).

 More about Dianne



 

2 comments:

  1. I enjoyed being on your blog today, Phew. Thanks for having me!

    ReplyDelete