Veteran visits wife’s grave over 1,300 times

Ted Richardson is a ninety-three-year-old veteran. He and Florence met as teens, then he left to serve as a Marine in World War II. But he took her picture with him everywhere he went.

They got married after the war. Ted says Florence always took care of him–for seventy-two years. So, now it’s his turn to take care of her.

Ted visits his wife’s grave six days a week, without fail, taking three buses to get there. He cares for it meticulously, trimming weeds and brushing away leaves. He has already arranged for his church to bring flowers to Florence’s grave after he dies.

He has already visited over 1,300 times. He says it’s worth it to be close to the love of his life.

Adversity is opportunity

As you look back over 2018, what events come to mind?

If you’re like most of us, your challenges and problems loom large. If someone you loved passed away, their death marked your life.

History feels the same way. When we think of David, Goliath is followed immediately by Bathsheba. Our first thought about Abraham Lincoln or John F. Kennedy is usually their assassination.

But we don’t have to let our losses define us. Like Ted Richardson, we can choose to honor the past by the way we live in the present. And we can view adversity as the opportunity it is.

In Zechariah 13, the Lord foretells of a day when “one third” of the people will survive the judgment to come (v. 8). Then “I will put this third into the fire, and refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested” (v. 9a).

With this result: “They will call upon my name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They are my people’; and they will say, ‘The Lord is my God’” (v. 9b).

Three ways to redeem our challenges

Gold and silver must be refined to be useful to the craftsman who employs them. Water must be purified to be healthy for those who drink it.

We should view adversity as opportunity, for three reasons.

One: Adversity helps us evaluate the health of…