Life and death

This weekend was quite a weekend. It began, as so many weekends do, with events and circumstances from the weeks, months and years that came before it.

Last Thursday Larry got a call from his dad with three pieces of bad news. Two of those items concerned the heath of his dad's brothers, both of whom are better today than they were that day but still not cleared for good health. We may yet get calls concerning them someday soon. Larry's daddy, fortunately, is in pretty good health for an 80 year old guy.

The third item was the bomb. The daughter of friends had taken her own life. Shellie. A young woman of 32. We were - and still are - broken hearted over this. Our two families were close and spent a lot of time together during the years that the kids were ranging in ages from about 16-17 to young Matt, however old he was at the time. Our paths had veered in different directions for the last several years so we didn't know much of the current happenings. So we were totally unprepared for this one.

We stopped our workdays on Friday and off to West Monroe we went. Sad as it all was, God's presence brought life. I am always fascinated to watch God as I see him in those who believe and are willing to allow him to be GOD. Shellie believed but struggled with her pain and the ability to believe in the goodness of God.

We left WM about 2:30 on Saturday, having taken time to buy some flowers to put on the graves of my parents and his mother. They're buried next to each other in the same cemetery that Shellie was buried in.

We'd been invited to the house of some friends in Dallas to meet some friends of theirs and so we made good time and got to their house at about 6:30. That evening was all about life as Father met a couple in the place of their own pain and desolation and brought life to them through the ministry of those in the room.

As soon as we had arrived at the home of these friends we heard more sad - but this time not unexpected - news that a friend in a near city had finally died of a brain tumor. The next evening we drove an hour and a half to at least see him that last time and to see his family as we knew we would not be able to go to the funeral.

In the midst of what seems to be the saddest of times those who believe in God are lifed by the understanding that death is passage. Dusty struggled with some with/through his pain but that was as short lived as the growing time of the tumor. His faith in the goodness of God was as solid as his 59 years of life. His wife and children had smiles for all who came.

But every where we looked we saw faces of peace - the faces of people who live in the presence of and the knowledge of the grace and mercy of God.

His purposes are eternal - ours temporal. Our purposes include those we love but... so do his.

Life and death happen in this world all at the same time. Happiness and sorrow. Rejoicing and pain. We need eyes to see, Lord. We need to see the way you see. Give us that grace and the grace to know you beyond what we see in the current circumstances.

We thank you Jesus that your life is our life and vitality and strength.