A very dear friend of mine went home to be with the Lord today in less than, dare I say, stellar fashion. This person’s actions have caused a lot of pain to those in their family, friends and church body. I’ve shed many tears over the last 12 hours. I’ve also had reason to question myself.
One advantage of being a small church is that you can tell who is there and who is not. As this person’s shepherd, I noticed they hadn’t been at the services for a few weeks so I checked up on them last week. As usual, the summer gets to most people – weddings, family outings, etc. It was the same for this person…or so I thought or was led to believe.
Over the past couple of years, this person had been going through an especially rough stretch of road on their journey to be like Jesus. I asked them how they were doing and received a little more than the typical, “Fine.” This person said, “Life’s tough;” but said nothing else or offered anything more. I was, excuse me, am their friend. Why didn’t I press them a little harder knowing the tough times they were having? Could I have done more to prevent their death?
Can’t get more real life than this can I? This is the time that proves the Word of God works in the real world or it doesn’t…and the world is watching. I’ve been processing this situation through my biblical filter to weed out the lies so I can hear Jesus in the midst of this painful time. The Word of God does indeed work. My mind focused on Jesus and the truths of His Word have given me a peace beyond this world, in the midst of my pain.
You can’t ignore or get out of life’s teaching opportunities. You can have victory, though, in the midst of them no matter how you are feeling. Life, dare I say, sucks at times. Yet as we process those painful times using our Biblical worldview we can experience peace in the midst of the storms. People are watching. What or who are they seeing in you?

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