It was the third day of the month, a day of excitement for me. This was the day Grandpa and I spent together, all by ourselves. Hurrying down stairs, I glanced out the window to see what kind of day it would be. The sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon, shooting it’s golden rays across the sky, touching everything beneath. " Jimmy", Mom called from the kitchen, "put on your fisher knit sweater, it’s going to be chilly." I grabbed the sweater from the front hall closet, then sat down at the table to eat breakfast. ‘Oh, time!’ I squirmed, ‘you go to darn slow ‘, I fussed to myself. Finally the door bell rang. ‘No time to chatter, Mom’ my brain rushed as I heard her begin to speak. Reaching the front door I flung it open and there, there was my Grandpa. He was not a spectacular man, his graying, half balding head topped a thin stooped frame. But he was my Grandpa and I loved him so much as I knew he loved me. And that was all that mattered. We left the house waving farewells to Mom. We turned then headed towards the river. My Grandpa’s favorite place, ‘Helps me think’ he would say. The bright coloured leaves crunched underfoot, as the crisp autumn air made our breaths appear as puffs of smoke. My small boyish hand was wrapped about by his bony, knurled fingers. We walked in silence for a long time, soaking in the sights and sounds. On the far shore Canadian geese rose abruptly from the water, with their noisy honking. We stopped to watch their flight, then soon everything fell silent again. "Listen." Grandpa’s raspy voice fell on my ears. ‘To what?’ I thought, as I gazed at him puzzled. "Do you hear it, Jimmy?" his strong arms guided me to perch on one of the large boulders that had strewn the sides to the river banks. "To what, Grandpa?" my young voice eked out. He rose his finger to his lips to shush me. I heard nothing but the gurgling of the water as it spilled over rocks on it’s passing. "The river, Grandpa?" "No, the wind, my boy. The wind!" I strained in the quietness , to hear what he was so intent upon. But heard nothing. ‘Old people! They hear things that aren’t there.’ Speculated as I studied his reflective face. He looked down at me with love pouring from his eyes. "Be real quiet Jimmy and tell me all that you hear." I sat stalk still not daring to even breathe. "The river." I looked at him. He smiled. "The leaves." I continued, his grin widened. "The grass?" I was stretching now. This time he winked. "And what makes the , leaves and grass sound, boy?" "The wind?" I hesitantly began, "the wind, of course, Grandpa!" How dumb I was but joyful at my final discovery. "Yes, my boy. One cannot see it nor hear it unless it moves something or is funneled through a hole." He patted me on the back. " God is much like the wind, Jimmy." "God?" I blurted out in amusement. "Yes, God, Jimmy. You can not see God and many times can not hear God, unless He is emulated through someone." He tilted his head. "Do you believe the wind exists, Jimmy?" "Well, I guess so. I heard it!" "And how else do we know the wind exists?" I shrugged my shoulders. "Lick your finger and hold it up." We both did just that, feeling the moisture evaporate. "Did you feel that?" He inquired. "Yes! Yes, I felt it! So I can hear and feel the wind, Grandpa!" I grew ecstatic at my learning. "As we know the wind exists, by sound and feeling, so we know of God’s existence." We rose from the rocks and continued our journey through the shrubs and tall grass. ‘But how do we feel God?’ I pondered silently. ‘ I’ve never felt God.’ I quickened my steps to keep up my pace with him. "Grandpa?" "Yes." He replied "How do we feel God?" Reaching the clearing where last time we had seen a doe and her fawn, Grandpa slowed his stride. "Do you know that I love you Jimmy?" "Oh, yes! Grandpa." I squeezed his hand and hugged his arm, as he smiled down at me. "How Jimmy? How do you know that I love you?" I blinked. How could I, an eight year old boy, express what I knew in words. "By the things that you give me, by talking me for walks, and being here. I just feel it from you." He cocked his head sideways to look up into the sky. His eyes slide his gaze to me without moving his head. "God has given us things, and He’s always here." Pointing to the river as we moved from the clearing. "You know that river is dangerous ?" I nodded. "If you all of a sudden, had an overwhelming urge to jump into it, do you think I would save you?" "Yes." "Why, do you think I would do that?" "Because you love me and wouldn’t want me to die." "That is true. I would risk, even give up my life so that you could live. That’s how much I love you. That is how much God loves us." I was filled with wonderment and bewilderment all at the same time. "You see Jimmy, God saw a long time ago that people were rushing into the waters of sin. He says, that the wages of sin is death. But God loved His people and His heart cried out to help them to live. So, what He did was send down a part of Himself, whom is known as His Son, Jesus Christ. He was," Grandpa chuckled a bit as he continued, "our life preserver sort of speaking, but truly a gift !" He rose to his feet from where we had come to sit. " Jesus walked the earth, my boy, and spoke of his Father’s love. Then He was murdered. He gave His live over to death without a struggle. Knowing all the time that He would be cursed, beaten, and spat upon. But He went. Thy will be done." My grandfather whispered, "All because He loved us, Jimmy. He rushed into that river to save our lives. God’s love is great and spiritually He didn’t die. Yet still lives with us today. Through His Word He expresses that love." From his jacket pocket Grandpa removed a small tattered book, and began to thumb through the pages. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." He replaced the book as we began to move on. "This is what God has done for us. He knew we couldn’t make it on our own. So He gave another present. Yet another portion of Himself, known as the Holy Spirit. Comforter. Sent to us the moment Jesus left His physical body in death. All these portions of God are one and like the wind we can not see them. But evidence proven we know of their existence." I stood in front of him, the river flowing, the leaves rustling about us. Such love emanated from him, so strong that I could hardly stand. It poured over me till I felt I was about to fall. It was then that Grandpa wrapped his arms around me and asked if I would like Jesus in my heart forever. Years have past, I can’t say that day I understood everything he spoke to me, but it had carried me through to this moment. As I rise from my knees, taking a deep breathe and gaze down at the tiny sleeping form in the bed before me, I know that what I did when I was eight will be the only thing that carries me through what lies ahead. Turning I made my way from the darkened room, down the hall to the kitchen. My mind drifted again as I waited for the kettle’s contents to boil. This time to the day three months before my graduation and seventeenth birthday when Grandpa ‘went home’. He had always so fondly expressed death that way. "Going home soon to the mansion Jesus has prepared for me." Were almost his last words the old gentleman spoke to me, for indeed he was a gentle man. "I’ll be waiting for you Jimmy and we will walk on the shores of that beautiful glass lake. " his face would always beam at that announcement. Warm arms slipped around my waist bringing me back to the present, as overwhelming love came on me. Marie, my wife, laid her head against my back and murmured softly. " Everything is going to be okay, Jimmy" "I know, Marie, I know. I’m not upset. Little Jenny is going to be with someone special and there’s an old gent up there waiting to take her for walks." I turned to hold my wife in my arms. Jenny now three would never see four. Cancer was taking her life slowly. Kissing Marie’s forehead I smiled as God’s peace and love washed over us.