Doug E. Pudge

Mississippi Memoirs

You know, I was thinking. I must break the Wild Wednesday mode this week. Most of you by now know about the passing of Rachel's father and the whirlwind trip that we both took down to Mississippi for the memorial service. There have only been a few times in my life that I have had absolute clarity about something and this trip was one of them. I had an enormous amount of responsibility that was associated with the Surrender Sunday service this past week. Being with a group of people who have the same goals and desires as you do really does help during these times. I was literally able to get everything taken care of in just a matter of a half hour and a few phone calls. God really did guide this whole thing. This was only the first hurdle to cross! When I saw Rachel on Thursday I informed her of my decision to go down for the service (based on the condition that it would be alright with her), she just teared up and hugged me. There was much to do like arranging a flight and hotel. At that point in time it had not been determined when the service would be but it was looking like sometime on Sunday afternoon. So, on Friday morning I hit the web and found a pretty decent deal on flights that would serve the purpose and get me in to Jackson, Mississippi just before noon on Sunday. So, Sunday morning I was out the door at 4:30 a.m. to get to Metro for a 6:30 flight. On the first leg of the flight I went from Detroit to Houston. I then had a two hour layover so I called Rachel who had arrived in Jackson the day before. Now, she had asked me to sing at the service. The day before I had picked up a couple of appropriate sound tracks and was going to let the family decide what they wanted. Well, on this call from Houston Rachel asked me if I could put something together for the funeral. They had only thought there was going to be a few family members there but word got out and they were getting a number of phone calls and the crowd was growing. After asking a few more questions I discovered that what they really wanted me to do was to oversee the service and to make sure it went smooth. I thought, I'll be landing by noon, the service is at 3 there should be no problem making this happen. I can sit down with the family and iron out all of the details! That was a really good plan that didn't happen. Without gonig into great detail the next few hours didn't go according to plan. The flight left over 1-1/2 hours late and I arrived just in time to go to the hotel, shower, get in my suit and jump in the car to head to the funeral home. Rachel and I went over the songs in the car (thanks to the CD player) and I had a basic service in my head. At 2:50 we arrive at the funeral home! Quickly jotting down notes and meeting people I hurried up into the chapel area. Long story short, God took control! There is no way that any person or group of people could have put together the service that was to happen. God brought comfort, tears, laughter, joy and especially peace to that place! I was just blessed enough to be a part of it. Funny how when you don't have time to get things organized how God just comes in and does it for you!
That Sunday evening the entire family went to dinner together. This was a great time to get to know these people that I had just met! I discovered that Rachel has a wonderful family and that they all love each other very deeply! I was made to feel a part of this group very quickly and I enjoyed the time that we all spent together both at the restaurant and back at the hotel. Monday would be spent going to see the car at the salvage yard, going to the crash site and then heading over to where her daddy lived to go through some more of his stuff. I could see the difficulty of all of this on Rachel and her sisters, but this stuff needed to be done. Mostly to bring things to a close for them.
Overall it was exhausting, enlightening, invigorating and stressful. But, it was a trip that I was meant to make. God really know what He's doing if you will just take the time to listen and obey! Be blessed beyond belief today.

posted by Doug E. Pudge @ 7:51 AM