Funerals and Milestones
This week has been an emotional one, filled with somber moments. After attending the funeral of friends Jessica and Carol's mom a couple of weeks ago, I've been more aware of the brevity of life. Reading about the death of 10 mo. old "Cora Paige" to a cancer only detected 2 weeks before her death just about did me in. All of this and. . .
The anniversary of Phil's death was Wed., and I had been apprehensive for many days as it approached. Just not looking forward to that horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach to return.
It did upon waking Wed. morning, but God was gracious to speak to me through song on my early-morning walk. Chad and I had prayed together at length for each of the Cruzes, and I was attempting to continue in prayer as I set out from the house, but was simply overwhelmed by tears. Once 1/4 mile or so away, I was trying to pray despite the sobs, when Kristyn Getty came on the MP3 singing "See, What a Morning." The lyrics touched me deeply. In Mary's sorrow, leaving the empty tomb, "the voice that spans the years came speaking life, stirring hope, bringing peace" to her. "For He lives, Christ is risen from the grave." It's only that resurrection victory which gives us hope in the face of an "untimely" death like Phil's.
I arrived at CBS still overly emotional (after a rough go with Coplea and Callie in getting out the door), and after an abbreviated lesson, was able to share my heart with the group. It was easy to share since Amelia B. had just shared through tears that her former pastor's 12 yr-old son had died the night before after a very brief bout of staph infection. Horrible news. She was so distraught for that family. Allison D. shared that Kristi Walker had also succumbed in the past few days to cancer, a young mother of 3 whom we had prayed for at Jan H. Collins' request. It was just so much to think about in one morning.
Thankfully, part of our lesson and the lecture covered 1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18: "Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words."
I had a wonderful, long conversation with Nancy in the early afternoon, which always does my heart good, but was especially painful and wonderful on this day.
Within minutes of hanging up from that call, my CBS leader Ginny called to say that she just couldn't believe it, but Amelia B's dad had died (in Jonesboro) during CBS. . . while we were discussing those other families' grief and our response to it. It was such a shock, and more than I wanted to think about in adding another sad anniversary on Feb. 18th.
Today I rode with Ginny to the visitation for Amelia's sweet and Godly dad in J'boro. It was a great ride there and back as we visited about so many "things." She encourages me. The time at the church was sweet as we read of how Amelia's dad built into the lives of so many co-workers, friends, his daughters. . . What struck me most was that the PeaceMaker book I had given Amelia 9 days ago had been read and then shared with him over the weekend. He had already been reading it himself to help her deal with a marriage conflict. Humbling.
And encouraging, too. He read many, many books on any subject he believed would help his girls or others around him. He made notes in the book and then wrote about the things "not to miss" in the front cover before passing it on for someone else to read. His quiet time journal was covered in ink, with his most recent entries all on the book of Job. As recent as the day before he died.
Pretty amazing. Very glad I got to be there today. And very hopeful it's my last funeral for a long while.
The anniversary of Phil's death was Wed., and I had been apprehensive for many days as it approached. Just not looking forward to that horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach to return.
It did upon waking Wed. morning, but God was gracious to speak to me through song on my early-morning walk. Chad and I had prayed together at length for each of the Cruzes, and I was attempting to continue in prayer as I set out from the house, but was simply overwhelmed by tears. Once 1/4 mile or so away, I was trying to pray despite the sobs, when Kristyn Getty came on the MP3 singing "See, What a Morning." The lyrics touched me deeply. In Mary's sorrow, leaving the empty tomb, "the voice that spans the years came speaking life, stirring hope, bringing peace" to her. "For He lives, Christ is risen from the grave." It's only that resurrection victory which gives us hope in the face of an "untimely" death like Phil's.
I arrived at CBS still overly emotional (after a rough go with Coplea and Callie in getting out the door), and after an abbreviated lesson, was able to share my heart with the group. It was easy to share since Amelia B. had just shared through tears that her former pastor's 12 yr-old son had died the night before after a very brief bout of staph infection. Horrible news. She was so distraught for that family. Allison D. shared that Kristi Walker had also succumbed in the past few days to cancer, a young mother of 3 whom we had prayed for at Jan H. Collins' request. It was just so much to think about in one morning.
Thankfully, part of our lesson and the lecture covered 1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18: "Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words."
I had a wonderful, long conversation with Nancy in the early afternoon, which always does my heart good, but was especially painful and wonderful on this day.
Within minutes of hanging up from that call, my CBS leader Ginny called to say that she just couldn't believe it, but Amelia B's dad had died (in Jonesboro) during CBS. . . while we were discussing those other families' grief and our response to it. It was such a shock, and more than I wanted to think about in adding another sad anniversary on Feb. 18th.
Today I rode with Ginny to the visitation for Amelia's sweet and Godly dad in J'boro. It was a great ride there and back as we visited about so many "things." She encourages me. The time at the church was sweet as we read of how Amelia's dad built into the lives of so many co-workers, friends, his daughters. . . What struck me most was that the PeaceMaker book I had given Amelia 9 days ago had been read and then shared with him over the weekend. He had already been reading it himself to help her deal with a marriage conflict. Humbling.
And encouraging, too. He read many, many books on any subject he believed would help his girls or others around him. He made notes in the book and then wrote about the things "not to miss" in the front cover before passing it on for someone else to read. His quiet time journal was covered in ink, with his most recent entries all on the book of Job. As recent as the day before he died.
Pretty amazing. Very glad I got to be there today. And very hopeful it's my last funeral for a long while.
posted by MyFairLadies at
8:25 PM
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