dealing with death

My heart is hurting for those I know who have lost family members of late. The sense of unpreparedness for the death of loved ones is always the most difficult to bear, even more than the ache that comes with the loss of a dear friend or family member. Lately, two pastors from the church where my husband and I taught were unexpectedly taken home to be with the Lord, one due to a plane crash that also took the life of his son, and one due to a heart attack in the months following the crash. Within the same month, a dear college friend lost her younger sister, who had incidentally spent the night in my dorm room when she was a prospective student. This young woman was snatched from this world as a result of careless mistakes during a gall bladder surgery which led to an emergency removal of much of her colon, and eventually a brain hemmorage and death.

The sadness and frustration of this terrible news can't compare to what their families, friends, and churches are facing now, and yet I must write to sort through my own feelings. How unfair it seems to take these two leaders from the same church fellowship so close on the heels of one another. How wrong it appears for someone so young and full of life to suffer for the carelessness of a medical professional. What a wrenching sense of disappointment with this world tumbles over me as I write this. Words fall short.

It is a reminder that time is short as well.