Continued
 Ps. 77: 1 I cry aloud to God, aloud to God, that he may hear me. 2 In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord; in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying; my soul refuses to be comforted. 3 I think of God, and I moan; I meditate, and my spirit faints. Selah 4 You keep my eyelids from closing; I am so troubled that I cannot speak. 5 I consider the days of old, and remember the years of long ago. 6 I commune with my heart in the night; I meditate and search my spirit: 7 "Will the Lord spurn forever, and never again be favorable? 8 Has his steadfast love ceased forever? Are his promises at an end for all time? 9 Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he in anger shut up his compassion?" Selah 10 And I say, "It is my grief that the right hand of the Most High has changed." 11 I will call to mind the deeds of the LORD; I will remember your wonders of old. 12 I will meditate on all your work, and muse on your mighty deeds. 13 Your way, 0 God, is holy. What god is so great as our God? 14 You are the God who works wonders; you have displayed your might among the peoples. 15 With your strong arm you redeemed your people, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph. END

Tessa's Personal Reflection:
Setting a memory in stone, capturing a life and holding it still long enough to sketch an impression, is no easy thing. Today is a day to say something about my father’s life, to honor him with our presence and our words. We all come today with our own share of sorrow and words seem little to offer. But I come with words of advice because that was my father’s favorite thing to give.He often told me that the trick of life is simply getting through it with a little bit of grace and dignity.  I have the pleasure today of telling you that my father lived and died with grace and dignity.It is not unusual for a child to bury their parent, but it is not everyday that a man like my father dies.  In saying that he was a giant among men, I have only two excuses.  Every loved one lays claim to greatness for their dead. And how could it be otherwise? For us, the wold has irrevocably altered and surely new laws of physics must apply to so changed a place.  And for my second excuse I have you the life that my father led. It was the stuff of legends and of dreams.He lived his life on his own terms. He was a deep and uncompromising thinker, a loyal friend, and a father who lived my sister and I unconditionally but never mistook us for breakable things.  There were few that met him who did not understand that there was something quite special about him, a calm self-assurance, a self-reliance without arrogance that invited rather than demanded respect.

There was also an opaque, private and fiercely independent side of him that made him almost unobtainable- and all the more compelling for his elusiveness.  He owned and was owned by nothing.He was never one to simply accept the world as it was described to him.  He did not easily let pass all grand words as profound, or leave an idea before he had turned it over to find the agenda hiding beneath.  He had a keen sense of the worth of people, and a tender heart.He had his own measure of value and considered carefully the substance of that which was before him.  He knew the weight of things.He chose his life for the joy it would bring him, and he lived every day of it with grace and dignity. I will hold myself accountable to that when I find myself greedy for more time or petty in counting days that seemed too few. Because I have had the rarest of gifts-I have loved and been loved by one of the greatest men I have ever known.  Thank you for your presence today and for joining us in celebrating a most extraordinary life. END