A beautiful family lost their nineteen-year-old son, grandson, older brother, and fiancee in a tragic accident.
My special friends are his grandparents, and as a grandparent myself, I don't know how they take the next breath.
Within a few hours the entire family and many friends were huddled at the hospital amid tears and hugs.
But Jim, the grandfather, was three states away at his job, scheduled to be home the next weekend.
The lateness of the day meant no flights home, so he drove through the night to be there by morning.
As I checked on him by phone until late in the night, I was struck by his words:
I think about how God lost His Son.We know the end of that story--Life claims Death, rather than what we seem left with at this moment.
But that glimpse Jim gave me is what we hold onto, even by a thread:
Tyler's life is not over; it is just somewhere else now.This family lost their son, grandson, older brother, and fiancee. But in the end, every loss we incur, including our own final breath, carries us to that next place for our forever life.
We'll never know why Tyler beat us there. Death claimed our version of Tyler, but his forever version lives.
Thank you, Jim, for such a poignant reminder spoken through your incredible pain.
Jesus, tell him how much he is loved. Help us see that Life, in fact, claimed Death.
