Wednesday, May 28, 2014

A Time to Mourn

Yesterday, I had the rare opportunity to spend a good part of the day with Carson.  It was a mother/son kind of day.  I'm more often paired off with Blair, while the boys go and do whatever it is that boys go and do, but yesterday.....it was just him and me.  It was nice.  By his choice, we grabbed pizza for lunch and saw a sports movie (bonus that we stood behind Mississippi State's QB in the ticket line).  And apparently when getting out of a movie two hours after lunch, boys are ready to eat again, so we drove through McDonald's to get him a couple of cheeseburgers and a shake.  Don't judge me based on the nutritional content of this paragraph.     

After we got home, I started making dinner.  Nothing special.  Just an ordinary Tuesday night.  I thought I'd do something with chicken.

It was then, on that just ordinary, nothing special, chicken casserole kind of Tuesday night, that we received the news that one of Carson’s classmates/teammates/friends had just been killed in an ATV accident. 

Wow.  It stopped us all in our tracks.  A 13 year old dying while enjoying his first day of summer?  There had to be some mistake.  That doesn't happen.

Sam was the most likeable kid.  Always smiling.  Always polite.  Great sense of humor.  Kind.  Very athletic.  Well loved by everyone.  A huge heart.  Larger than life personality.  

I don't think there's a mother in this town, who didn't lose her breath when she heard the news.  It didn't matter if you recognized the name or not.  It didn't matter how many differences there are among us, mothers.....religion, race, age, address.....when we hear of a child dying, we all become the same.  We put ourselves in that mother's place.  I think it's because we all carry the same deepest fear.....the fear of losing a baby and when we hear that one of us has had her fear realized......our hearts bleed for her.  We ache for her.  We cry for her.  We plead to God for her. 

Here, I'd just enjoyed an afternoon with my son and, at about the same time, another mother, who sits just down the bleachers from me in the basketball gym and the baseball field, was processing the worst news of her life. 

That will shut up your complaining.  That will reorder your priorities.  That will make you stop and grab your children. 

Motherhood and Muffin Tops may sit quietly for the next few days.  The 8th graders will be taking up money to send flowers to the funeral home from the class of 2018.  We'll be talking a good bit more about death, heaven, and hope around here.  And like so many others, we'll be driving our dressed up son to the funeral home to do something he's never had to do before....say goodbye to someone his own age.  Things that 13 year olds shouldn't have to do.  But this life is full of things like that. 

In the sadness and emptiness, we do have hope though.  Jesus offered Sam the gift of salvation and we know for sure that Sam had accepted that gift.
Jesus said,“I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies."
John 11:25    

It's been a dark, gloomy day here.  The clouds, the darkness, the water dripping off the house.....they all seem to be fitting today. 

A mother has lost her child. 

Let's all pray for Sam's mom.
    

“Someday you will read or hear that I am dead. Don’t you believe a word of it. I shall be more alive than I am now. I will just have changed my address. I will have gone into the presence of God.” -Billy Graham

  



        

17 comments:

  1. Oh, this mama up here in Missouri is mourning with that mama down in Mississippi. I am so very sorry for her and her family's loss! Praise God we have the hope of heaven .... and seeing young Sam again.

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    1. Thank you, Barbara, for remembering her.

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  3. joni, these are the times that change us forever - as they should. the battle is to not let them make us fear more but to love better. this mom's heart grieves with you.

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  4. this just breaks my heart for this family...my thoughts and prayers will be with them. i lost a good friend of mine when i was 17....he had just graduated from high school 8 days earlier and was killed in a traffic accident in mississippi....he was a wonderful boy too.

    i love the quote from billy graham....he is my mom's cousin and they are about the same age. billy's health is declining rapidly as is my mom's who will be 94 in june.

    prayers also for your sweet son during his time of grief over his friend's passing.

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    1. Thanks, Judy, for praying for them. It's awesome that Billy Graham is your mom's cousin! He's been a "good and faithful servant", for sure. Many rewards await him.

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  5. Thinking of you and your son as you process this devastating news and mourn this great loss of a child.

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  6. Whoa. What a reality check. A priority evaluation. And I just typed the text that I couldn’t wait for this mayhem called May of forms and concerts and banquets and presentations and homework and finals to end. And yet, it does end for one mom and I’m guessing she’d do ANYTHING to get it all back. Every. Last. Bit. Of. It. I am aching for her and for my own sorry wishing away of something that has been preciously gifted to me. Praying for her and for you as you support your son through this loss.

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    1. Thanks, Karmen, for praying for her. Guilty here, too....of wishing away.

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  7. Oh that is so sad but still comforting to know he is with God now. I have just prayed for all.

    I love that quote of Billy Graham and in fact just read it yesterday and is exactly how I feel too.

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    1. Thanks for the prayers, Happyone. Sam's family will need them for a long time.

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  8. I have thought of this mom all day and my heart breaks for her. Praying for their family.

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  9. My heart is breaking for this mom. I know personally the pain she is going through. Her heart and body are totally numb with grief. I lost my 24 year old son suddenly two years ago. The pain never goes away. But God has given me strength and courage to make it through each day. I pray that He will bless her too.

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  10. Lord, You have set Your servant free- to go in peace as you promised; a light to enlighten the nations & a glory to Your people Israel.

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