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Jesus Loves Me as Wide as His Arms Can Stretch

Jesus Loves Me as Wide as His Arms Can Stretch

Last updated on: February 24, 2025 at 8:17 am by Mark Williams

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Jesus Loves Me as Wide as His Arms Can Stretch 2025-02-24T08:17:44-07:00 Mark Williams

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I think I can still fly a plane. | Image by author.

There are things, sometimes big things, I think I can still do as well as things I am deciding I like more now than before. Now, I am not saying I can do them well but, I might still have time for some of them before I take the Big Pony Ride Around the Bend.

For one, I think I can still fly a plane. No explosive laughter, please. Hear me out-

Clearance, Cessna 25858 out of north exec terminal with ATIS requesting transponder code for the push back.

Cessna 8-5-8, squawk 1-3-3-0, contact Ground at 1-1-9r.1

8-5-8 Roger, ground at 1-1-9.1.

See?

I have played this sequence of conversation exchange, continuing the flight out and back, a thousand times driving or walking or especially riding my bike over the decades. Thousands of times.

Here are just a few-

I like the classical music Home Depot plays from their security lights/camera things in their parking lots. Loud classical music. Adds something to your arrival and departure. Makes you feel, well, classy. As you carry out the six 2×4’s for that bench you’re making.
I liked the guy inside Home Depot working the self-checkout. He came over and held some of my stuff while I scanned it. Then he helped scan it as well. Nice guy. I could do that. That would be fun.
I think I want to sing a song at a karaoke bar. Something baritoney, not high pitch like Adam Levine. Of course, this would require two war scotches and head-butting the wall before I got on stage like those Manchester United soccer fans.
One of my friends, who isn’t a doctor nor a scientist told me recently if you get to my age with little or no major illnesses like scurvy, Ethiopian rickets, or terminal butthole cancer, you probably won’t get it. Which leaves allllll the other cancers, a head on with a bus as I walk down the sidewalk, and falling off my bike and drowning in the canal. I already did one of those and survived so I think—crap.
I like cheese. I have always liked cheese. But I will eat it with a squirt of mayonnaise on it. I heard it’s a health food. It was on Tic-Tok so it must be true.
I have recently discovered walking. Like walking for exercise, not to get cheese and mayo. I will, after taking the dogs for a once around, I will bring them in after we all peed on everything worth peeing on, and unharness them, then, get my headphones and make it a couple more rounds. I can still run, but I look like a cripple with joint issues, which is good because I have those issues. So, walking is good. Then come back and have my coffee and launch the day.
I love my dogs. There, I said it, I used the ‘L’ word. With the shape of the world, and if I had a choice of either you or them, guess who I would pick. For those of you who know me and know I care deeply about you, I am sorry. For the rest of you, I am not sorry.
I like time in my front yard, sitting in one of those plastic Adirondack chairs you can get at, you guessed it, Home Depot, in the late afternoon, watching the grass grow and the sun go down, casting shade across my yard. I’ve been doing it since Covid and we were told we could not be any closer than 6 feet. So, me and the neighbors did six feet. We are much closer now but still gather at random times. If you drive by my house in the afternoon, and you see a remarkably preserved man in a front yard, sipping a Rusty Nail with two dogs at his feet, stop. He will get you a refreshing beverage and we can talk about anything, or better—nothing at all.
I like making my bed once my feet hit the floor in the morning. It makes me happy to see my room squared away.
I like my morning scrambled egg with half and half and cheese and cooked in butter. Again, butter is a health food. Especially the unsalted butter. That means you can have two tablespoons instead of just one.

You can all do this.

You can all do this. Be happy with what you have. I try not to dwell on the fact I am starting to shrink, or I look at my legs, the best part of my body for decades, and wonder why my skin looks like the skin of an anaconda from the Florida Everglades. My short-term memory is struggling. Like when doing the laundry, or where I was walking to in the house. That’s why I have a desktop blotter calendar. Everything I need in one glance on my desk—Staples, $7.99.

So, there we go. Here we go. Tap-rack-and assess and make sure you have clean underwear.

There is a piece of writing I have hanging in my kitchen. I had it matted on a large canvas, I liked it so much. I try to read it every so often and see how I am doing. It reminds me someone loves me. https://www.thegodandjesusblog.com/

Someone loves me.

When all is said and done, I hope my life was one well lived. That I can look back whole heartedly with no regrets,

only good memories from lessons taught to me by my loving Dad along the way.

I hope I was brave and free to be myself even if I was unsure what that looked like at times and somewhere amongst the years,

I found my purpose and was wise enough to give it away.

I hope my presence here on earth made someone smile, even if only for a moment. I hope I chose joy, every day.

I loved others even when they did not deserve it because that’s what my Dad would want me to do.

I found the simple blessings each day brings and laughed so hard tears can down my face.

I hope I treated myself with the same compassion as I’ve shown others.

I hope I made the most of this one life I was given.

I hope, above all other hopes, more than anything else, that you know how much I loved you.

I hope we all find our joy. I know where to look. If I am quiet enough, and just listen,

I can hear Him—You are my dear child, and I love you as wide as my arms can stretch1 John 5:1-2 NIV – Faith in the Incarnate Son of God – Bible Gateway.

If you dare….

If you dare to believe your God, your Lord in heaven is truly God and truly took your place in sin so you can come home, Then- there is a peace, which will surpass all understanding. Believe in a love so strong, His arms were truly stretched out for you.

Enjoy the ride.

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1 John 5:1-2 NIV – Faith in the Incarnate Son of God – Bible Gateway

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About Mark Williams

Mark Williams spent the first twenty-one years of his career as a Special Agent for the Organized Crime Division of the State Attorney General’s Office. As part of his duties, he investigated organized crime, homicides, and fraud cases submitted by other agencies to that office. He has traveled across the United States as an instructor for law enforcement in various capacities. After he retired, he became a high school English teacher at an inner-city school in central Phoenix where he is the fourth generation in his family to live in the valley. Mark was married for almost thirty-eight years and is a retired widower. He has three children and ten grandchildren. You can read more about the author here.

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