It has been a hard week. Last weekend a tragic car crash took the lives of four of my son’s friends – one a roommate, two other teammates with him on his college soccer team, the fourth a senior female tennis player who epitomized friendliness and zest for life. I have watched and at times tried to help, but in the immediacy of the situation, words are of little comfort. The past two days I have given my son space that he and I both needed. He has been with friends comforting and being comforted. I slipped up into the mountains and let the Lord minister to my soul. I have four things I have had reinforced through this that I would like to share with you today. I doubt any of these will be new to most of you, but they are foundational truths that will help us in the good times and the tough times.
The first truth the Lord spoke to me Wednesday night after attending two of the funerals. Admittedly I was feeling sad for a different reason than you might suspect. While I empathized with the parents to the extent that I could and I can relate with the students to a degree because of losses I have suffered, my sadness was that I had spent 12 hours “being there” for Sam and it didn’t seem like he needed me. Even at the time I realized that my feelings were indicative of my own insecurity and, to a degree, selfishness. I wanted to be needed. As I sat there praying, I groaned, “Lord please help my son, please draw him close to you and comfort him. And please help me to know what to do to help.” And the Lord spoke to my spirit, “Who’s son is he?” I was a little taken back by the firmness in the question, however I quickly realized my mistake. As our children were growing up, we often prayed prayers of relinquishment over them. We are given responsibility to train up our children, but we are only stewards for a short time. They never cease to be God’s children. And as they get older the relationship shifts such that we must… MUST… get out of God’s way. He loves them more than we ever can. Even our most faithful, most effective parenting falls short of our heavenly Father’s love for them. I have to chuckle as I write this because there are times when prayers of relinquishment are easy… like when you have about pulled out every hair on your head and you are down to your last nerve… But Sam and his friends were hurting and my desire was to wrap them in my arms and to take them to a safe and peaceful place… but that was NOT my role. Needless to say, I prayed the prayer of relinquishment. God is Sam’s heavenly Father. I love Sam and I will be there for him, but he is God’s child and as such I can fully trust the Lord to provide for him.
The second truth is that we all have choices. We gain wisdom from many different sources – our parents, teachers, coaches, pastors, friends. It is vital that we take that wisdom and use it to make wise choices. Our choices have consequences. Good choices lead to more positive outcomes. Poor choices, or not making a choice but just going with the flow, can lead to outcomes that are less desirable. Professionally I am a Reliability Engineer. One of the things that I have done a lot of is failure investigations. In every significant failure there are a number of things that went wrong to result in the failure and negative outcome. While we will never have absolute control over all the circumstances we find ourselves in, we do have an opportunity to make wise choices that reduce the risk of negative outcomes and increase the probability of good outcomes.
The third truth is relationships are paramount. We can accumulate things, we can be successful in our professional life, we can even cultivate a good reputation, but the reason we are here is for the relationships we build and the lives we touch. Jesus came to earth and became a man. He lived a full live in his thirty years from infant to adulthood in relationship with others. Living in meaningful relationship with others has certain key components, the chief among them is love. Kyle, the roommate and best friend to one of the boys who passed away shared a brief vignette. He described how passionate James was, not just about his sport, but about life. One of the things James would do is he would always tell his friends, “I love you, man.” And he would wait expectantly for his friend to acknowledge and respond. It was a game of sorts, but at it’s heart was a young man who understood the importance of relationships. Almost every Sunday James would take as many friends as he could back to his parent’s home to have Sunday dinner and hang out. He knew the value of relationships. And James’ investment in others has not gone in vain. I got word of appreciation from James’ mother last night. It seems this week was James’ younger brother’s birthday. My son and some other boys went to their home and spent the day with Landon celebrating his birthday, making it memorable. That’s what you do when you love, when you understand the value God puts on relationships.
Finally, the fourth truth is that this life is but a prelude. This has been a theme that the Lord has hammered home for me for about seven years, but experiencing the end of the earthly life of four great young adults emphasizes anew the brevity of life. Scripture tells us that this is not the end, but only the beginning. Every one of us are created by God to exist forever. The part of us that is spirit and soul will continue after our physical body has stopped working. His desire is that we live with Him forever, but He has allowed us to make that choice. Actually this point is a summation of all the previous points – real life is found in the perfect Father – God. We all have choices with the most important choice being what are we going to do about Jesus. And our relationship with Jesus followed by the myriad other relationships are the ultimate reason we are here. Our relationships now give color and value to life on this side of the grave and, to a degree we can’t fully understand until we have crossed over, they impact life on the other side of the grave too.
The two young men whose funerals I attended this week had experienced salvation by trusting in Jesus earlier in their life. Today they are experiencing REAL LIFE, a larger life than we can imagine. As I hiked and experienced God’s refreshing over the past two days, I was repeatedly reminded that the best this life offers, – the most stunning sunrise, the most beautiful location we will ever see, the most touching moment of intimacy, the most exhilarating thrill we ever experience is but a foretaste of what God has in store for His children when they come home.
Thank you Father for the lives of James, Josh, Mills, and Sarah who my son and many others had the privilege of knowing and being friends with. Bless and comfort their family and friends. Please use their loss to touch many and to draw them closer to you. Thank you for the manifestation of your great love in mercy and grace. Amen.
areliablefaith 