Ouida has felt well enough to attend the assembly of believers with me for the past three Lord’s days. She still tires easily. Her nurse, who helps me keep tabs on the nine medications she takes, says she still tires because her heart is still out of rhythm. It will take time. She is not well yet. But she plans to go with me to the Pecan Grove Church of Christ this Sunday in Greenville. That congregation has long been a blessing to us both.

I will also address the Garden Ridge Church of Christ in Lewisville on June 3, 10 a.m on “I Was Once Foolish and Ignorant, Nevertheless“. This congregation, only ten miles from our home, is also one with which we have had a long and joyous acquaintance.

After last Lord’s day assembly at our home congregation, we “ate out” for the first time in months -- one of our favorite places, a catfish restaurant. It was great to see Ouida eat like her old self -- including loading up on jalapeno peppers, which for her go with French fries and catfish.

On our way home we drove to The Vintage, which will soon be our new residence (click for photo). I pulled into the front parking lot and parked. As we sat there together, pondering it all -- giving up “our home” after 63 years of marriage (We owned our own little home when we married!) -- I asked her, “Are you going to cry?” She said no, that she understood that it is best. But it is evident that she would prefer it otherwise. She has a special bond to our present home. But we take heart that “home” is where we have each other.

We are well acquainted with the location of The Vintage, not only because we have often visited people there through the years, but it is located next to the hospital where our daughter Phoebe spent the last months of her life. We plan to make our move by June 1.

Glen Thompson and Bob Lewis have worked tirelessly putting Restoration Review online -- -- www.leroygarrett.org -- and they keep adding volumes. Glen informs me that there were 308 issues of Restoration Review in 34 volumes. He somehow counted 3,374,245 words! As I look back on all that in this time frame, I figure if I could do all that, while also teaching, then surely I can clear out this house -- where every nook and corner is crammed with something -- and make this move and get this house on the market. But I find it the most demanding task I ever attempted. The work will go on long after we move. One of my problems is my reluctance to put anything on the curb that someone might use.

At Pecan Grove this Lord’s day I am, by request, to speak on the ascension of Christ. Reading on that subject reminds me of some puzzling problems. One is that Matthew, Mark, and John conclude their accounts without any reference to the ascension, when we would expect them to do so. They all end Jesus’ earthly pilgrimage with the resurrection. The long ending of Mark 16 does reference the ascension, but the oldest and most reliable manuscripts do not have that ending.

Only Luke records the ascension -- in both his gospel and in Acts -- and they present an interesting problem. While Luke 24:51 clearly says, “Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He parted from them, and was carried up into heaven,” the time flow of the chapter indicates that Jesus ascended on the same day as the resurrection -- with no indication that there was an interval of 40 days, as is made clear in Acts 1.

This apparent conflict has resulted in a textual problem in that some reliable manuscripts omit “and was carried up to heaven.” It is presumed that some well-meaning scribe sought to resolve the conflict with Acts 1 by ignoring that phrase. But it is evident that in this context Luke has the ascension on Easter Sunday.

If Luke had been questioned on that by his thesis professor, he might have said, “Well, yes, I may not have the time frame exactly right in my gospel account, but I made it clear in my second volume. Indeed he does, and not only that but he also reveals that it was his intention to tell the story of Jesus “beginning from the baptism of John to that day when he was taken up from us” (Acts 1:22). Unlike the other gospel accounts, Luke made it a point to end the story where it ended. Jesus’ earthly sojourn did not end with the resurrection, but with the ascension -- and there was a forty-day ministry between the two (Acts 1:3), during which time there were “many infallible proofs” that he was indeed alive.

I will show that the ascension was part of the apostolic proclamation -- the gospel -- even though it was more implicitly proclaimed than explicitly. Such as Peter on the day of Pentecost: “This Jesus has God raised up, of which we are all witnesses. Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God . . “ (Acts 2:32-33). In the ascension Jesus was glorified and given a place equal with God.

And I will show that as believers we share in that glorious ascension: “God raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6).

I plan to send Essay 175 from The Vintage. Our new address will be 205 N. Bonnie Brae, Denton, TX 76201, but we’ll also use our old address, 1300 Woodlake Dr., Corinth, TX 76210 for sometime to come. We plan for our phone number to remain the same, 940-891-0494.