Death Hovers

Death hovers over the city like a wool blanket in the hot summertime.  Stifling, we wish to throw it off and jump in the cold shower, praying the cool stream will remove the nightmares that have entwined with the thick oppression.

The flood waters claimed one of our own.  One not quite initiated into teenagedom.  One still viewed as his mother's forever baby boy.

Our hearts are heavy.  We are tempted to beat against the Sovereign One's chest and question whether He is good.  The boy had his whole life ahead of him.

God wants to tell us it is perfectly acceptable to beat against His chest.  He invites us into the wrestling arena.  Only then will we come away with His true character.

A character that is, indeed, always good.

I am reminded in this grief filled time that Jesus hates death.  When His friend Lazarus died, his anger is compared to the snorting of a horse. Go here for why Christ hates death.

It was why Jesus entered our sin sick world, disguised as one of us. 

So death wouldn't have the final say.

So life would win in the end.

I am the resurrection, and the life:  he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.  John 11:25

Part of me is tempted to say a gazillion spiritual platitudes but I know that none of this matters in the beginning.  In the beginning of grief, you just want the world to stop and recognize the one you achingly loved.  Will forever love.

So, Walker family, please know that in our minds, we have purposed the world to stop.  We honor your son, Drake.  We stop to pray.  We stop to surrender to God's plan.  We stop to beg for His mercy. 

Today, we refuse to let the world keep spinning. Today, we simply stop.