The shock of hearing of my little brother's death is something I would never wish on anyone. Hearing your parents fresh grief over the phone is hell on earth.
On Friday, my brother had finished Christmas shopping fore Geoff, Maleia, & me because my mom needed to ship the box to us get here in time for Christmas. When he brought it home and showed it off to my mom, he headed to a friend's house to watch a movie. While there, he asked if he could stay the night since he was feeling pretty tired. This wasn't unusual since he got up early for work each day. He fell asleep on the couch. When his friend tried to wake him up the next day around dinner time, he realized that Tim was gone.
Due to getting our tickets through the internet, we weren't able to change our plans. Geoff went ahead with his interview on Sunday. On Monday we purchased tickets to get to Colorado. We arrived home in PA around 12:00 am Tuesday morning, and at noon that day we were at the airport. Those 12 hours were a flurry of laundry, unpacking, packing for a week, sleep, and making sure we had as many Christmas gifts as possible while pretty much in a fog of shock. I had done most of my shopping online, so I was unpacking all the packages that had come while we were gone, and putting them in our suitcases. After two more flights, we arrived to my parents' home around midnight.
Tim's memorial service was on Thursday. The pastor did a tremendous job. Around 300 people came, and about half of them were under the age of 25. So many co-workers and friends who came would have never come to church, but they were able to hear the gospel that day. A couple people raised their hand for salvation which was such a blessing to us. Although Tim wasn't living his life for the Lord the last couple years, I know through his death many seeds were planted. My parents have many phone numbers of his friends to keep in touch. To see their faces during the service was heart breaking due to the fact that they didn't have hope, and we did. It almost seemed as if we as a family were trying to comfort them. We're continuing to pray for them.
We cling to the hope that we will see Tim again in heaven. God's grace has been sufficient to our needs. Although the days are hard, we are not alone which is such a comfort. God has also seen to bless our family financially during this time for lost time at work, etc. Our God is good all the time.
4 comments:
Thanks for filling us in. I'm sure it wasn't fun re-hashing it all.
I've been praying for you guys, and for your parents. Praise the Lord for a well-planted seed, and also for His sweet grace.
it's so heartbreaking to hear you tell this story, but i'm so glad to know the gospel went out to so many! i got to see kristi during the sgi conf. at my church and she told me she was able to be there with you. praise the Lord for His timing. still praying for you as often as i think of you!
Thank you for sharing this. Praise God for the gospel going out at the memorial service. We will pray for the seeds that were planted. I'll continue praying for you and your family too.
Oh dear, my heart is full for you and your family! We'll be praying for you guys.
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