Life goes on

Friday night I couldn't sleep and ended up watching a PBS show about women who have immigrated to the US seeking asylum. The show was none to spectacular but it showcased some pretty amazing women. One women told her story of coming to the US from Iran when her country transitioned through the last Shaw. She came here pregnant to live with her mother and sister, but her husband was detained and later executed in Iran.

When her sister came to tell her the news of her husbands death, she was holding and feeding her infant son. She said what struck her hardest after hearing the awful news, was that she still had to feed her son. She wanted to run away and hide and cry and throw things, but her son had to be fed and no one else could do it. The baby had no way of understanding the news his mother had just received. He was just sweet, innocent and hungry. At that moment she realized that even though her world had been shattered and the love of her life was gone, her life had to go on. The baby still had to be fed. That part of her story really stuck with me.

Life does go on no matter how much we wish it would stop for the tragedies in our life. My heart and mind have been so heavy for the loss of Kyle Lake and for the painful road that is now laid out for his sweet family. Sometimes it is hard to shake a sadness so deep, even if it is not your own.

I found myself tearing up at the silliest things yesterday. But it was Halloween and my sweet little 4 year old wanted to make cookies with me. We had planned it all day. So we started. Rhett looked up at me with those blue eyes and spoke beyond his four years saying "You don't seem very happy Mommy. Don't you like to make cookies with me?" I assured him that I loved making cookies with him but that I was still sad about Sari's friend. He gave me that blank look and said "But you have to be happy today because we get to trick or treat tonight." And he was right.
Life goes on.

I am to the age that knowing life goes on no matter what somehow seems almost more comforting than cruel. I thank God that Jennifer Lake has three children who love and need her so that she will have to go on despite her broken heart. I am really glad that my sister has a new job that is going to take her to Boston for several weeks so that she has to move on, though her heart is heavy with this loss. I praise God that Kyle Lake left the kind of legacy that his church will not let die. In his memory and because he was so committed to bringing people to the love of Jesus, they will have to move past this horrible tragedy and try to carry on what he started. Though it will never ever be the same, life will go on.

Dearest Father God, Thank you so much for making life go on, even when we don't want it to. Please give us the strength and hope to brave the battles of this world until we can all be home with you. Please wrap your arms around the Lake and UBC families as they bury their beloved Kyle today. Please take care of Jenn, Avery, Sutton and Jude and fill their broken hearts with your healing love. Help us all to go on joyfully proclaiming your peace and joy to all who know us. And please father bring us home soon. Amen.

According to Sari, Kyle ended every message with these words "This week may you love God, embrace beauty, and live life to the fullest." A charge to keep.

P.S. The national news media may not pick this up but they found out that Kyle's death had nothing to do with the microphone. The water pump in the baptistry was running and it had shorted. When Kyle touched the metal side of the baptistry or the microphone poll, he grounded the current. That is what killed him. Not the battery powered microphone.