Daddy’s Girl “Keith with Sophie” 1998
This is one of the best pictures we have found of my brother “Keith”
This picture was signed on the back “Daddy’s girl, Keith with Sophie”. She was allowed to stay in the house on cold nights and probably on plenty of warm nights as well. Sophie stole Keith’s heart. We now have Sophie with us and we will take good care of her, there is no doubt she will soon be in heaven with Keith as she is now 12 years old. Every day I brush “Daddy’s Girl” and I tell her how much Keith loved her but then she already knows that, it just makes me feel better. I remember how in her younger years she would chase a tennis ball like my little Sophie does now and one day she will do that again with Keith when they are re-united. Yes, I do absolutely believe that our animals will be with us in heaven and I believe there is plenty of scripture to back it up. We are not told specifically but we are told there will be animals there and no more are ever created, so they would have to come from ones that were on the earth with us.
Yesterday I preached and I spoke about the fact that Keith was one of my very best friends, we were only 13 months apart in age but opposites on most things in life. Keith was a great money manager and he has taught me a lesson that I hope to be better at. Keith was a hard worker and did top quality work. Keith was fun to be with, he loved to laugh and he loved my boys so much. One of the sweetest things Samuel ever said was “Uncle Keith”. My heart is broken that my children will now grow up not being able to really get to know my brother. I always wished that I had many brothers and sisters and now both of my siblings have been taken from this world. It seems like a horrible dream but it isn’t. My sister was murdered at the age of 26 and now Keith has been killed in a vehicle accident at the age of 45.
I am thankful that God gave us each other almost 45 years. I remember when Keith started 1st grade. Mom and I sat in the car to make sure Keith didn’t try to run away from school and sure enough, he came running out of the building with teachers close behind. I remember crying that day at only 4 years old because I didn’t want him to be afraid or sad, I didn’t want to leave him. We played Little League Baseball together, Keith was great and I was a bench warmer. Our 1st girl crushes were cousins, I remember playing spin the bottle behind the school building, the winners “had” to kiss. I remember Keith being my protector in school, he took up for me so many times. Keith and I shared our 1st car together, a Red Ford Escort. Keith and I worked many jobs together, starting with pumping gas at a local station near our home when we were only 12 and 13. We worked our 1st public job together in a restaurant in the Mayberry Mall and in 2 other restaurants after that. We painted together and we worked together in a convenience store. We had different friends because as I said we were opposites in a lot of our likes and dislikes. But we always stayed close.
I prayed with Keith when he told me he wanted to be a Christian on August 24th, 1988 and Keith was Baptized on March 19th, 1989.
Losing my brother in this life is the hardest thing I have ever faced. I know that we will meet again and it will only be a brief time before we do.This life is but a breath and we are gone, it is like a vapor. I am thankful that I have Mom and Dad, Misty and my boys to walk through this time with me. I also have my church family and friends, I don’t know how people make it without a church family. Most of all I have the Lord to walk through this with me. He sacrificed his only son, Jesus Christ in order that we might have eternal life and he had the assurance that his son would be raised to life again on the 3rd day. I too have the assurance that my brother will be raised to life and that we will one day be together again and this time for eternity. I can’t wait for that day and in the mean time, we have work to do. We live in a world where so many people don’t know the love of a brother like I do with Keith and we need to tell them about Jesus, our elder brother that died to take away our sin.
Keith, until we meet again in heaven and it will be soon, I will think of you every day and sometimes every moment of the day. I can’t wait until I can put my arms around you and tell you in person that I love you and that I am a better person because of you. You made me want to be a better person in your life and you make me want to be a better person in your absence. I pray that all of my boys will know the love for each other that you and I shared and I know that it was mom and dad that instilled that love in us. I miss you Keith, more than anything in this world.
Ronnie
Isaiah 41:10
So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
awesome testimony Ronnie…i know this was hard to write…glad you did, thank you! praying for you…
Precious tributre Ronnie. We did have fun working at Western Steer together didn’t we? Please know Ronnie that even though Keith was a very private person with a lot of things; he was never private in how he felt about you and the boys. He also told me that it meant a lot to him to be called “Uncle Keith”. Those boys were a bright star shining in his life. I’m praying for you and I love you.
Ronnie, I am praying for God to heal your heart. I know you will always think of Kieth and there will be a great reunion in the near future. I believe Christ will return in a little while. I know Kieth would want you to be strong and walk on with God. You have so many friends cheering you on, so many prayers being said for your family.God bless and hold you in His arms, in a little while we will see our loved ones again.
God Bless your broken heart……….
“Cry Out To Jesus” by Third Day
“To everyone who’s lost someone they love Long before it was their time You feel like the days you had were not enough … our days were way too short Keith, but I will see you again and never let you go again…..I love you …Suzi
Chris Tomlin ….”My Chains Are Gone”
It was amazing that my favorite CCM song is the very one played at your funeral….
I knew Keith from the time I entered school and over the years we became very good friends. He was such a good person and always had a smile for those he met. I don’t ever remember seeing him that he didn’t have that beautiful smile on his face! He is really being missed by so many people but now living a wonderful life in His heavenly home.
Love you Keith. Till we meet again…..
Ronnie, you and your family are in my thoughts and prayers. Your life is such an inspiration to others.
Ronnie, you and your Mom & Dad are in my prayers every day.
We have had so much fun with you all over the years, some sad times lots of happy times and times of kidding around. You have been an inspiration to me in many ways and I love you all dearly.
I share Chris Tomlin’s sentiments of the song sang at Keith’s funeral. That has been my favorite for a while now. It has a great message in it and gives praise to our Creator and Savior. Glory Hallelujah.
You wrote a beautiful testimony and I’m so glad you have great memories of your brother.
Love you so much,
Aunt Pernie
Since Keith was taken away from us all in May, I have struggled with all the feelings and conflict I feel inside. I have bought a few books on grief which I am now reading. One is a daily meditation book for “working through grief”….this is the entry for the day that keith died.
All goes onward and outward, nothing collapses, And to die is different from what any one supposes, and luckier. Walt Whitman
Can we read in the flow of life, in the return of songbirds and roses and blueberries, some reassurance that it is life’s intention to waste nothing, but to keep the basic substance of life itself going? And if this is true for the smaller, less complex works of creation, surely it must be true for the intricate and wondrous creation which is a human being.
Death helps us to define our life, to give it some framework and the urge to do and be what we can because an end to life as we know it will come.
And then what? None of us knows. But we can take some clues from what we do know of the rest of creation. The clues lead us to hope, as do the stories of cying persons whose faces become suffused with joy and wonder. Not all dying persons have such an experience. We don’t need a hundred percent validation, any more than we need to add up all the columns of figures in the world to know that two plus two equals four-everytime.