Joshua

Saint-Caradec, France
June 24, 2009
Noon
The Feast of Saint John the Baptist

A Tribute to and a Prayer for Joshua and His Family
by Christiana Adams-Caille, a friend of the family

Note: Joshua and Nicholas wanted to make a bonfire and they found gasoline, which they used and that burned them both over 90 percent of their childs' bodies. Thanks be to God, their suffering has ended. I wrote this on the very day that Joshua passed to the other side of the Veil. Amen.

Joshua Jon. Belovèd son, grandson, nephew, friend. Belovèd child of God, whose name means “God is Salvation”and “God is Gracious”:

“The English name Joshua is a rendering of the Hebrew: יהושע‎, "Yehoshua," meaning means "Yahweh is Salvation," "Yahweh delivers," or "Yahweh rescues" from the Hebrew root ישע, "salvation," "to deliver/be liberated," or "to be victorious" "salvation." It often lacks a Hebrew letter vav (ו) after the shin (ש), allowing a reading of the vocalization of the name as Yehoshea
(יְהוֹשֵׁעַ) - the name is described in the Torah as having been originally Hoshea before being changed to Yehoshua by Moses (Numbers 13:16).”

Recalling also the story of another Joshua, whom Moses entrusted with the leadership of the Israelites:

“According to the Bible, Joshua was the son of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim, which would become known as the most militaristic of the tribes of Israel, largely through Joshua's campaigns. He was born in Egypt prior to The Exodus, and was probably the same age as Caleb, with whom he is occasionally associated.

“As Moses' apprentice, Joshua was a major figure in all the events of the Exodus. He accompanied Moses part of the way when he ascended Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments (Exd. 32:17). He was one of the twelve spies who were sent on by Moses to explore the land of Canaan (Num. 13:16, 17), and only he and Caleb gave an encouraging report, a reward for which would be that only these two of the spies would enter the promised land (Num 14:23-24). He was commander at their first battle after exiting Egypt, against the Amalekites in Rephidim (Ex. 17:8-16), in which they were victorious.

“Joshua was appointed by Moses to succeed him as leader of the Israelites. The first part of the book that bears Joshua's name covers the period when he commanded the conquest of Canaan. At the Jordan River, the waters parted, as they had for Moses at the Red Sea. Joshua led the destruction of Jericho, then moved on to Ai, a small neighboring city to the west. However, they were defeated and thirty-six Israelite warriors were killed, because Achan had taken the ‘accursed thing’ (some treasures from Jericho). When Achan's sin was exposed, he and his family and his animals were stoned to death and the favor of God was again restored. Joshua was then able to defeat Ai. The Israelites faced an alliance of Amorite kings from Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon. At Gibeon Joshua asked God to cause the Sun and Moon to stand still, so that he could finish the battle in daylight. This event is most notable because ‘there was no day like that before it or after it, that the LORD hearkened unto the voice of a man: for the LORD fought for Israel.’(KJV Josh 10:14). From there on, Joshua was able to lead the Israelites to several victories, securing much of the land of Canaan.

“In the second part of the book that bears his name (Joshua 13 onwards), Joshua describes the extent of the ‘promised land’ and divided it among the tribes of Israel. At this time, much of this land remained unconquered.

“When he was ‘old and well advanced in years’ Joshua convened the elders and chiefs of the Israelites and exhorted them to have no fellowship with the native population because it could lead them to be unfaithful to God. At a general assembly of the clans at Shechem he took leave of the people, admonishing them to be loyal to their God, who had been so mightily manifested in the midst of them. As a witness of their promise to serve God, Joshua set up a great stone under an oak by the sanctuary of God. Soon afterward he died, at the age of 110, and was buried at Timnath Serah.”

We recall also the stories of Jonathan and David, of John the Baptist and John, Christ’s beloved disciple and friend….

***

Since April 18 it seems for all of us that “there was no day like that before it or after it, that the LORD hearkened unto the voice of a man: for the LORD fought for Israel.”

On this day, the carefree little boy, Joshua, became a “warrior”, our leader and our teacher.

On this 24th of June 2009, the Feast Day of Saint John the Baptist, we thank God for this child’s life as he prepares to join the communion of saints whom we can no longer see but whose presence is felt, through the Holy Spirit, in our daily lives. We thank God for Joshua’s life and sacrifice because through his life and death and through the life and death of his friend, Nicholas, many lives – and of this I am certain – will and perhaps have already been saved.

Joshua is and shall always remain – in deed and in truth – salvation for others.

I am convinced that each person who knows the story of Joshua and Nicholas will now and forever warn parents and children of the dangers of fire. I believe that as they heal, Joshua's family and friends will join together to ensure that vast and renewed public education efforts concerning fire safety throughout North America and beyond will occur. The telling of the story of Joshua and Nicholas will become, if I may, the new “Book of Joshua.”

This is the victory of this precious child, Joshua, and of his friend, Nicholas.

***
And now I ask that you join me in a Prayer for Joshua and his Family.
Gracious Mother, Father God,

We give you thanks for the life of Joshua. We trust in your Love for this child and his Family as his soul prepares to come unto You and as his Family prepares to release him to Your Spirit. We trust in Your constant presence with him and with his family. We trust in your saving mercy and through your Grace, the absence and end of suffering for this child. May his Passion on this earth soon be over.

Lord in your Mercy,
Hear our prayer.

Thy Will Be Done.

Lord in your Mercy,
Hear our prayer.

We pray that the Holy Spirit will descend as a dove from heaven soon to take this child, in a divine Chariot of Fire, straight into your welcoming Arms.

Lord in your Mercy,
Hear our prayer.

We pray for the peace of Joshua’s family. Have mercy upon them and grant them peace.
In their great sorrow, be for them a constant and abiding presence.

Grant that they may feel Your saving presence.

Grant that they may feel You holding them in your Arms as you do their belovèd son, grandson, and nephew.

Lord in your Mercy,
Hear our prayer.

***
We ask all of these things in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ.
In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

****

Ever since writing my tribute to Joshua yesterday, the opening lines of the following poem have been in my heart and my mind.

The poem, by John Greenleaf Whittier, is
"The Barefoot Boy" ....

Blessings on thee, little man,
Barefoot boy, with cheek of tan!
With thy turned-up pantaloons,
And thy merry whistled tunes;
With thy red lip, redder still
Kissed bystrawberries on the hill;
With the sunshine on thy face,
Through thy torn brim’s jaunty grace;
From my heart I give thee joy,—
I was once a barefoot boy!
Prince thou art,—the grown-up man
Only is republican.
Let the million-dollared ride!
Barefoot, trudging at his side,
Thou hast more than he can buy
In the reach of ear and eye,—
Outward sunshine, inward joy:
Blessings on thee, barefoot boy!

Oh for boyhood’s painless play,
Sleep that wakes in laughing day,
Health that mocks the doctor’s rules,
Knowledge never learned of schools,
Of the wild bee’s morning chase,
Of the wild-flower’s time and place,
Flight of fowl and habitude
Of the tenants of the wood;
How the tortoise bears his shell,
How the woodchuck digs his cell,
And the ground-mole sinks his well;
How the robin feeds her young,
How the oriole’s nest is hung;
Where the whitest lilies blow,
Where the freshest berries grow,
Where the ground-nut trails its vine,
Where the wood-grape’s clusters shine;
Of the black wasp’s cunning way,
Mason of his walls of clay,
And the architectural plans
Of gray hornet artisans!

For, eschewing books and tasks, Nature answers all he asks;
Hand in hand with her he walks,
Face to face with her he talks,
Part and parcel of her joy,—
Blessings on the barefoot boy!

Oh for boyhood’s time of June,
Crowding years in one brief moon,
When all things I heard or saw, Me, their master, waited for.
I was rich in flowers and trees,
Humming-birds and honey-bees;
For my sport the squirrel played,
Plied the snouted mole his spade;
For my taste the blackberry cone
Purpled over hedge and stone;
Laughed the brook for my delight
Through the day and through the night,
Whispering at the garden wall,
Talked with me from fall to fall;
Mine the sand-rimmed pickerel pond,
Mine the walnut slopes beyond,
Mine, on bending orchard trees, Apples of Hesperides!
Still as my horizon grew,
Larger grew my riches too;
All the world I saw or knew
Seemed a complex Chinese toy,
Fashioned for a barefoot boy!
Oh for festal dainties spread,
Like my bowl of milk and bread;
Pewter spoon and bowl of wood,
On the door-stone, gray and rude!
O’er me, like a regal tent,
Cloudy-ribbed, the sunset bent,
Purple-curtained, fringed with gold,
Looped in many a wind-swung fold;
While for music came the play
Of the pied frogs’ orchestra;
And, to light the noisy choir,
Lit the fly his lamp of fire.
I was monarch : pomp and joy
Waited on the barefoot boy!

Cheerily, then, my little man,
Live and laugh, as boyhood can!
Though the flinty slopes be hard,
Stubble-speared the new-mown sward,
Every morn shall lead thee through
Fresh baptisms of the dew;
Every evening from thy feet
Shall the cool wind kiss the heat:
All too soon these feet must hide
In the prison cells of pride,
Lose the freedom of the sod,
Like a colt’s for work be shod,
Made to tread the mills of toil,
Up and down in ceaseless moil:
Happy if their track be found
Never on forbidden ground;
Happy if they sink not in
Quick and treacherous sands of sin.
AAh! that thou couldst know thy joy,
Ere it passes, barefoot boy!

***


Joshua and Nicholas, as you said in your note to me, are playing now--eternally "barefoot boys with cheek of tan!"

And they know joy.
Blessings are upon them.
Now and always.
Source for the story of Joshua: Wikepedia