the Christmas Miracle continues

I received an email from Frank Maguire last week:

"LaVon and Don

Saw your fascinating web-site (blog).

I am sure that the publication of God at work in the Dickens matter will touch some folk. This is how the Lord works. There was a celebration of life service held for Joan on the beach at Carlsbad, CA. I wrote Celebration of Life and sent a number of copies to Michael Dickens to dispense. He promised me that he would. Michael, who has not been in contact with (his brother) Greg since the murders, conviction, and incarceration told me "I'm going to Arizona to visit Greg."

God heals, often in a way that we can't understand.

Hope to see you before you depart Quail Run, and hope, also, that all is going well.

grace and heart-peace,
Frank and Helen

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A Celebration of Life

by Frank Maguire

People often say “What a wonderful book,” or “Isn’t that song beautiful?” This is so common that we give no conscious thought to what is really being said. If we were challenged, we would surely say that by “wonderful book” we mean “a wonderful work of writing by the author.” And, “the composer was surely inspired when he produced that music.” In other words, we admire the creation, but we wisely give the credit to the creator.

Today is, specifically, a Celebration of the Life of Joan Dickens, but a celebration not limited to the life of Joan Dickens. Joan Dickens knew, and all who know the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, know, that the very reason Life is of value is that it is sacred, and should be revered and celebrated because God is the author…the composer…the Creator. It is the sanctity of each human life that is to be celebrated.


Better than most persons, Joan Dickens knew that her life was not of superior value relative to the life of others. She knew that all mortal souls are created by God, and that all fall short of perfection in this world.

There are those who reject the absolute sanctity of life, “If life has ended,” they might suggest, “should we not be celebrating death--the great release from worldly punishments?” Others could suggest, “We really are celebrating the life of Joan Dickens because she was a good person. So, we celebrate the good things that she did in her life.” It is not, they propose, what one is, but what one does that should be the cause for celebration. There is no intrinsic sanctity of human life, some insist, there is only relative utility, and it is measured by the quality of the life—by how valuable the life has been to its cultural and economic environment. But Joan Dickens knew better than that. She knew that each life has equivalent value because God is the author, and composer, of that life. God, she knew, is the eternal Judge, not men.


So, today, we are honoring Joan Dickens in a Celebration of Life. It is appropriate, for there are few persons who understood the sanctity of all life more than did Joan Dickens. All life! The innocent and the guilty! The sinner and the saint! The weak and the strong! The Jew and the Samaritan! Joan Dickens understood because she had within her the heart of her Lord and Savior. Yes, perhaps in this great universe Joan Dickens’ life might be thought of as a tiny rock cast into this expansive ocean…creating but a seemingly negligible ripple. But the ripple produced by the life of Joan Dickens will continue without end. For an eternity! Upon rocks thought negligible by the World, Jesus Christ built His church.



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A beautiful poem by Frank:





Surpassing Understanding (verse one)

By Frank Maguire
© July 12, 2006


The weighty heat of day relents,
And of the burdens it has laid upon us,
Even God’s worn Earth repents.

The life of this day’s sun,
Consumed by saw-toothed mountains in the West,
The crimson spread attests
That day is done.

‘Tis then we see Earth’s life in glory
With golden halo, Heaven’s clouds reflecting
One more day of poignant story.

A cool angelic zephyr sings
While angel faces dot the night;
And Earth, no more within our sight,
We soar away to Peace on Heavenly wings.


Surpassing Understanding (verse two)

By Frank Maguire
© July 24, 2006

The weighty heat of day relents
And of the burdens it has laid upon us
Even hostile Earth repents

The life of this day’s sun
By God ordained to ebb beyond its crest
Penumbra spread attests
That day is done.

Then, we see Earth’s life in glory.
Gold and crimson halo, Heaven’s clouds reflecting
One more day of poignant story.

“Come be with Me,” the whispering!
While angel faces dot the night,
And we, with Earth no longer in our sight
Are drawn to Paradise on Heavenly wings.