Just Sayin'

Pastor Doug started his sermon at the funeral by saying {in my recollection}: "Funerals are hard. You never know what to say to those left behind. My advice, tho, is that if your cat or your dog just died don't tell Rob and Terri you know what they are going through. You don't know." Of course we all laughed. Of course Doug has been to a few more funerals than I have and knew what was to come in the many days ahead. We are beyond the stage where everybody who sees us hugs us. We are not quite to the stage where most people forgot we ever had a twelve year old son. We are in the stage where nobody knows quite what to say to us (except, of course, those few brave souls who give up their mornings or their childrens lunch time or their ice cream time to ask) so it is easier to not say anything at all lest they have blubbering parents on their hands or we start sputtering about Jesus and salvation and heaven and all that again. So if you chat with me and I don't quite get excited over new faucets or the agony of what color to choose for the third bathroom or the hangnail on your big left toe that has been dangling for a week~ know that I still care, it's just that I am probably trying to process things like which clothes are sentimental to keep and which ones should I donate to Goodwill; what were my last words to my son and what will be my first ones; will that insurance company really cover all the expenses or do we have to dip into our savings or the memorial money that we long to honor God with so the gospel can go forth even more. Somehow priorities have changed a bit for us. Faucets still leak and hangnails still hang, but when your son just entered heaven they don't seem to hold the same weight anymore. Give us time, ask us how we are, we'll try not to get your shoulder too wet and pretty soon we'll care about glossy or satin finish again. Or maybe God will keep eternity very close to our minds and we'll ask you yet again "Where would you be if it had been you that Friday? Are you ready to meet your Creator? Do you know His son Jesus?".