On Saturday, I joined our local community here to celebrate the life of a young drummer, husband, father, and follower of Christ. You can read his story and learn more about how to pray for his family here. The service was meant to celebrate-celebrate the life lived here, celebrate the new life Jesus granted, and celebrate the trust that he’s now safely home with Christ.
And though I knew it was a time to celebrate, the celebrating was oh so difficult. He was so young, so full of life and dreams and potential. His wife and son must need him so much. Could life really be this short?
After a night of tossing and turning, we drove an early drive down the same road and stepped back into the same chapel.
And we all sang in unison,
‘Hast thou not seen? How thy desires e’er have been granted in what He ordaineth?’
Is this true? Didn’t we stand together here yesterday and mourn the loss of a young father and pray for courage for the faithful wife and son who miss him terribly? Can they sing these words? Would he? Can I? Will I?
I remember Psalm 16, something about boundary lines…these lines God uses to define how far we can go, how long we can last.
5 LORD, you alone are my portion and my cup;
you make my lot secure.
6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance.
7 I will praise the LORD, who counsels me;
even at night my heart instructs me.
8 I keep my eyes always on the LORD.
With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,
10 because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
nor will you let your faithful[b] one see decay.
11 You make known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
And the answer is, ‘No.’ If my desires are for this life alone, then His plans will seem opposed to mine and His purposes thwarting my own.
But, if my eyes are set on the next life, if my ‘eyes are always on the Lord,’ if He is the portion, the cup, the hope for which I’m longing, then I can say He’s met ALL my desires. If it’s Christ who’s at my right hand, I will find that all these moments-these little daily deaths of plans and purpose and even these larger losses of life and love, all of these are ordained by HIM. If I’m in faith, then this praise can be my song.
And so, ‘Praise to the Lord the Almighty,’ even as we mourn our losses here within these boundary lines.
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