Passing

Someone I knew, although not very well, passed away today.  He was in a car accident a day or two ago and it wasn't looking very good from the beginning.  That's all I know.  My husband knew him much better than me.  They had spoken on various occasions, hung out together, but hadn't for a while.  I think he knew God.  That's where we all met, at church.

It's times like this that I switch off.  Sometimes for a day, sometimes for a week.  Sometimes I switch off for longer.  I think it depends on how well I've known the person involved.  It seems the better I knew them, the longer it takes for me to accept it, or acknowledge it, or figure it out, or whatever.

Roy sent me a text and told me that the young man, in his twenties, had passed away.  I was shocked for a minute, even though I had been told it wasn't looking good for him.  Then I forgot, I switched it off.  I don't know how to grieve.  I went back to my conversation with the friend I was with.  I was deciding whether to tell them what news I had just heard, when I forgot all about it.  It wasn't until I got in my car to drive home that it came back to me and I began to reminisce.  I prayed for his family.  I can't even begin to imagine their grief.  A lost son, a lost sibling, a lost friend.

I can only hope and pray that they see love in all of this.  That they are cared for by everyone around them.  That they get the support they need.  From a Christian perspective, he is with Jesus now.  He is happy.  He is peaceful.  He has no fear, no more worries, no pain.

We're left behind but with hope we will see him again.  We will miss him now.  We will get angry now.  We will get upset now.  We'll question, why?  Why did this have to happen?  What was the reason?  Is there a reason?  Is there a purpose?  Why?  And it's ok to feel like that.  It's ok to question.  I think we find the answer when we are ready.

Now is the time to grieve.  Now is the time to love and support the grieving.  Now is the time to pray for the grieving.  It's a hurt that was never supposed to happen.  But it does now.  And when it does, He grieves with us.

Jesus wept.  John 11:35

Jesus' friend Lazarus had died.  When He came close to the tomb where Lazarus' body lay, Jesus saw his own friends and Lazarus' friends there, weeping and mourning the loss of their friend.  It moved Jesus to weep with them.  You can read the full context here.

I can only say from my own grieving experiences that Jesus grieves with us.  Death isn't how things were supposed to be.  God didn't design death.  We bought it when we chose not to follow God, all the way back in the beginning.  But as a Christian, I believe that there is life eternally, after our body dies, with Christ in heaven.  I know this in my heart.  I know it.  I can't explain how I do, but my faith and hope in Jesus makes me certain.

I hope that this doesn't offend anyone.  It's what I believe.  It's a part of me.  I will never be able to explain the "Why?".  Infact I have a few questions I'll be asking God when I get the opportunity - but I have a feeling that when I do get the opportunity that the questions I want answers to now won't be so important anymore.