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He Went Home For Christmas
He Went Home For Christmas
My Uncle Albert loved me,
and I sure loved that man.
He told me about his Savior
and that blessed “Promised Land”.
He wasn’t always churchy.
In his youth he was free and wild.
Still, he remained my uncle,
and he loved me all the while.
As oldest child I helped at home,
silently nursing woes.
Albert came and got me once,
What made him? I don’t know.
He picked me up and stood his ground.
No one else could go.
I felt just like a princess,
as to the movie we rode.
He lived so far away that I
didn’t see him very much.
But every now and then I’d look.
His van would be driving up.
He married Dot when I was just
a freshman in high school.
It made me marvel. They were close!
In their home love was rule.
What a great surprise to all
when they both got “religion”.
He visited each relative,
and told of his decision.
He drove three hundred miles to tell
a man he once worked for,
That when he was a teen age boy
he’d stolen from his store.
My uncle wasn't religious,
a fanatic, like some claimed.
My Uncle Albert loved the Lord,
and he was really saved.
Salvation to him meant that he
would do what God required.
He had no time to waste. He shared,
“I too in sin was mired.”
When I was seventeen or so,
we sat beneath a tree,
And oh! The sweetest story
my Albert told to me!
He said, “You know your birthstone?
That Topaz ring I gave?
Well, in Heaven there’s a wall of it,
and the street with gold is paved.”
He’d say, “Now listen!” as he told
some new/old revelation.
I listened out of courtesy,
but learned of his salvation.
“Now listen, God said ‘whoever will’,
so that means me and you,”
He’d talk as though his own best friend
was the deity he knew.
He gave me my first wrist watch
and love that knew no measure,
“Quality time” is the byword now,
and that was what I treasured.
It was Christmas time not long ago.
To church they were on their way,
A truck jumped the median, driver asleep.
The crash was awful, they say.
Albert went home for Christmas,
the home he told me of,
Where there is peace and joy and light,
and holy, warmth and love.
He won’t see the amber lights
upon my Christmas tree,
But when he walks near that Topaz wall,
I hope he thinks of me.
He spent long years inviting us
to visit Heaven’s sod.
The trip to church he thought he took
put him face to face with God.
I KNOW he’s happy as that heavenly
angel choir does sing.
“Now listen,” he would tell me.
Albert, I did! I heard everything.
I got your invitation
and I know it came with love.
I know that you are happy
and content there up above,
But Dot and Liz, and Mamma,
Hambone, and all of us,
Want you to know we miss you,
And we love you very much.
From left to right: "Red" ("Noah" Counts), my sweet Momma, Sibyl Cook, J.W. Counts, MY UNCLE ALBERT COUNTS, and Hambone (Hammett Counts). They are ALL so precious to me!
