Earlier this week we found out that one of Mike's friends from high school had lost his mother unexpectedly to a brain aneurism.
Then this afternoon my brother - who is a junior in high school - called to tell me about a boy on the local football team who died as a result of injuries sustained during last night's big football game. Taylor Haugen, a sophomore, was an upstanding young man in our community and active at our church - FUMC-Niceville. His parents are very active at our church and once I looked in the church pictoral directory I was struck with even more sadness - realizing that I see them several times a week during church activities. Area teenagers were able to attend a service this afternoon to honor and pay tribute to the young man's life.
How quickly life can be taken - when no one expects it. I can only imagine the anguish this young man's family is feeling right now - my prayers and thoughts are with them. I'm also praying for the young men and women who witnessed the injury last night and who knew him personally - grief can do crazy things during the teenage years.
The family who lost their mother unexpectedly is also in our prayers and we are encouraged knowing that she was a follower of Jesus Christ and is now in heaven watching over her loved ones.
But all this really makes me think about is how short life can really be - and how silly it is to hold grudges, cast out friends and family due to differences and how un-christlike it is to not forgive and move on - remaining a family.
"We tried reconciling, but it didn't work" one might say.
Well maybe you didn't try hard enough - maybe your heart wasn't in the right place. Maybe your expectations were too high or too low.
Maybe you didn't have all the information or someone within your midst was feeding you lies that you took as truth?
Whatever the reason - you should never give up and you should never let differences separate you from the people you love - and you should never stop loving your family members.
Maybe you don't understand why they did what they did - and sometimes you don't have to.
But we can all use a dose of humility and we should all be open to change.
Don't give up hope: some people change.
Against all odds, against the grain,
Love finds a way: some people change.
Thank God for those who make it:
Let them be the Light. "
(Some People Change by Montgomery Gentry).
What gets me are the people who profess to be Christians - who even quote scripture but spew hate and indifference in their lives. It's as if those people consider some to be outside the realm of Christ's forgiveness - it doesn't apply to all in their lives, only the ones they feel like forgiving and loving.
And even when lives are severed by choice or force - when the ties that bind are separated - life still keeps dancing us closely to each other - skirting paths that might one day cross.
Regret is an awful feeling - it poisons your soul.
You can only do what is possible within your realm of control - you can't force someone to accept you or love you.
People make mistakes - we all screw up - we all do and say things and treat people badly - even us who profess to follow Christ.
But the great thing about being a follower of Jesus Christ is the grace and mercy he offers and teaches us to offer others who cause us grief and pain and sadness and anger.
May God's mercy, love, grace and forgiveness touch you and those around you whom you have been separated from.
It's never to late to say you're sorry and it's never too hard to just pick up and start over. Love abounds for us all.
