Hey brothers and sisters,
I miss you all very much! Pretty much every day I wish I were back at camp with y’all (and please don’t reply with w’all, you know who you are) hanging out, learning, and sleeping in a tent or a squirrel’s nest. But we had to part and go back to our homes to digest everything, prepare to leave, and hopefully share with our community the things we learned about ourselves and about God while at training.
Honestly, I am struggling and as I read previously it seems like most of us are. Yesterday my mom called me to let me know that a family friend had died. His name was Sam and he was 23. We don’t yet know how he died, some speculation of an anurism (sp?). His roommate, who had been out of town for the weekend, found him Sunday night at their apartment. Please pray for Sam’s roommate. I can’t even imagine the horror of walking in to your home and finding your friend dead. I could never live there again. Also pray for his parents (Gretchen and Stephen) and his brother (Curt), I can’t imagine losing my brother or my sister or a child one day for that matter. The pain would be unimaginable.
I take comfort in knowing that “Jesus wept.” God weeps with us when we weep. He feels the heartbreak that we experience. God is walking beside us, walking beside this family and weeping with them for their loss and rejoicing with them in their memories. Pray that the community will surround this family with love and support and comfort and joy for Sam’s life. Pray that we don’t feel like we have to have any answers because we don’t, and it is okay to mourn and to grieve this loss.Thank you God that you are not a distant God! You do not look down from far away once in awhile to see what is going on this world you created. You have chosen to be involved in this world and in our lives. You are Love, Justice, Mercy and so much more! You are Beautiful! You are beyond understanding, yet we try so hard to define you. Thank you that you are “I AM”! Thank you that you weep with us, and thank you for the hope of better days to come.
