Joey's Point of View

I love this close-up of my son's beautiful brown eye, another precious photo taken by lovely Rachel during their years together. I love the lashes and the eyebrows, the crinkled skin under his eye. I loved those chocolate brown eyes since the moment they showed themselves brown. I remember staring at them when he was a baby. He liked eye contact and would grab my face with two hands when he was a toddler, so I would look him directly in the eyes when he was talking to me. Brown eyes aren't sensational like blue eyes, but they are so wonderfully sincere. Joey had a calm, direct gaze and so much warmth in his brown eyes.

I don't know everything that those eyes saw, but I loved to hear his opinions on life. He was a reflective and intelligent soul and his point of view was always interesting. We all liked to hear what Joey thought about something, and because he was cool, but also thoughtful, he had a lot of influence on the people around him. He was also kind, so even his criticism was direct and truthful, but temperate. He was merciful with human frailty, probably because of his own.

He wrote this poem using magnetic poetry in the van on his road trip of North and Central America. Rachel, again, had the artist's insight to snap a picture of it. We discovered it a few days after he was gone to Heaven. It has ministered to our despair and heartache over and over again this year. It helps us make peace with the messiness of life. Joey's point of view continues to guide us through our confusion, and point us to God's sufficient grace, even in death. I love the way he stood the word "grace" on its end. Grace is the one thing that will make it all okay someday.

For by grace have you been saved through faith...Eph 2:8