Saturday, October 15, 2016
518 - 'As Real as it Gets'
Spirituality Column No. 518
October 18, 2016
Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary
The multiple, halting, emotional speeches hung so very, very thickly over Baby Willow’s funeral Saturday.
Born at home healthy, vibrant and hungry early October 6, Willow stopped breathing some four hours later. No warning, no explanation … and no amount of emergency care could bring her back. Willow’s ashes rested in a polished wooden box as parents, family and friends gathered to say we love you and good-bye.
Praise God, Willow insisted we do much more. She insisted that we in our heartbreak encounter Jesus in all His power, promise, trust and truth. Willow allowed no other gaze than for us to fix our eyes on the healing love of Jesus Christ.
In this season of crushing grief, Willow’s parents Michael and Maggie and all four grandparents courageously, tearfully spoke words of healing and encouragement and witnessed profoundly to the unlimited faithfulness and tender mercy of Jesus. When so many might wonder, errantly, “How could God do such a thing?” as take young Willow, Willow’s family stood faithfully and said, “How could we survive such a thing without Jesus?”
Maggie told the funeral gathering that the day following Willow’s death she experienced a vision of Jesus. He stepped between her and Michael, comforted them and in a voice Maggie clearly discerned said of Willow, “I have to take her now.” Numerous other signs, works of Christian love and even rainbows appeared through the week. When one is in the faith, such signs are unmistakable evidence of God’s nearness, relationship and compassion. Jesus is there.
Pastor Dave Rodriguez at Grace Church (Westfield, IN) looked at the funeral gathering and noted, gently, that he understood there likely were people there who didn’t “get” the Jesus thing and more likely would be on the page of, “How could God …etc.” Dave noted that the hurt and the love and the healing and the faith permeating that particular room, not to mention the faith witness of Maggie and Michael’s entire lives, would appear to some unbelievable; certainly not real.
Dave spoke a measured, earnest, caring truth: “This is as real as it gets.”
Willow didn’t let anyone out of the church without facing the reality that is the truth of Jesus Christ. These are the times, the pastor noted, that God shows up and is not subtle. Times like these are why we were created in the image of God, or else where is our comfort? In times like these words may fail us but God doesn’t.
Like Dave, I pray someone curious about Jesus asks Michael and Maggie about this God they know.
They know Him very well.
Walters’ (rlwcom@aol.com) son Eric was roommates with Michael in college. They grew up in faith together at East 91st Street Christian Church, Indianapolis. By the way, Michael and Maggie have a son Rhett whom they adopted a few months before learning of her pregnancy.
October 18, 2016
Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary
‘As Real as it Gets’
By Bob WaltersThe multiple, halting, emotional speeches hung so very, very thickly over Baby Willow’s funeral Saturday.
Born at home healthy, vibrant and hungry early October 6, Willow stopped breathing some four hours later. No warning, no explanation … and no amount of emergency care could bring her back. Willow’s ashes rested in a polished wooden box as parents, family and friends gathered to say we love you and good-bye.
Praise God, Willow insisted we do much more. She insisted that we in our heartbreak encounter Jesus in all His power, promise, trust and truth. Willow allowed no other gaze than for us to fix our eyes on the healing love of Jesus Christ.
In this season of crushing grief, Willow’s parents Michael and Maggie and all four grandparents courageously, tearfully spoke words of healing and encouragement and witnessed profoundly to the unlimited faithfulness and tender mercy of Jesus. When so many might wonder, errantly, “How could God do such a thing?” as take young Willow, Willow’s family stood faithfully and said, “How could we survive such a thing without Jesus?”
Maggie told the funeral gathering that the day following Willow’s death she experienced a vision of Jesus. He stepped between her and Michael, comforted them and in a voice Maggie clearly discerned said of Willow, “I have to take her now.” Numerous other signs, works of Christian love and even rainbows appeared through the week. When one is in the faith, such signs are unmistakable evidence of God’s nearness, relationship and compassion. Jesus is there.
Pastor Dave Rodriguez at Grace Church (Westfield, IN) looked at the funeral gathering and noted, gently, that he understood there likely were people there who didn’t “get” the Jesus thing and more likely would be on the page of, “How could God …etc.” Dave noted that the hurt and the love and the healing and the faith permeating that particular room, not to mention the faith witness of Maggie and Michael’s entire lives, would appear to some unbelievable; certainly not real.
Dave spoke a measured, earnest, caring truth: “This is as real as it gets.”
Willow didn’t let anyone out of the church without facing the reality that is the truth of Jesus Christ. These are the times, the pastor noted, that God shows up and is not subtle. Times like these are why we were created in the image of God, or else where is our comfort? In times like these words may fail us but God doesn’t.
Like Dave, I pray someone curious about Jesus asks Michael and Maggie about this God they know.
They know Him very well.
Walters’ (rlwcom@aol.com) son Eric was roommates with Michael in college. They grew up in faith together at East 91st Street Christian Church, Indianapolis. By the way, Michael and Maggie have a son Rhett whom they adopted a few months before learning of her pregnancy.
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