A Few Hours Ago...Last Sunday

It was this past Sunday.

We were getting ready to leave for church. I was pretty excited because Holly and Aaron were going to be visiting our church AND visiting a SS class. We agreed to meet them in the parking lot, so they wouldn't have to walk in alone. We had looked on the website at the classes offered, and they had chosen one they wanted to try. SCORE! It was in the same building as our class...right around the corner!

(I know, I know...Jim says I'm not gonna be happy until all of our children pack up and move close to us so I can see them every day)

(What, like that's wrong?)

As we walked into the building, Holly asked if there was a place to get coffee before class, and there was. She busied herself getting her drink fixed just like she liked it. I looked at Aaron and said, "she's a mess, isn't she?" He said, "oh, yes ma'am."

I don't know...it just hit me then. She was dressed all cute, as always. And she had her hair up on her head in a knot/bun-thing. And something about her hair or her mannerisms or something right at that moment...it just took me back to her as a little girl.

Weird, I know. But just the vision of her and that memory...not gonna lie...almost made me cry right there.

And then we dropped them off at their class, and walked around the corner to ours. I was really excited! I tried to be nonchalant around them, because Jim and I really don't want to influence their decision about a church home AT ALL. Our prayer has been for them to find their place...to find a class that will be with them thru the ups and downs of life.

About 10 minutes into our class, we see a young couple walk by. The woman is pregnant and clearly upset and crying. The husband is holding her close as they walk, talking to her quietly. My first thought was that there was something wrong with her baby...but then LOTS of young couples come walking by the class, on their way to the stairs.

Well, that's weird.

And then someone comes in and tells us that a young wife and mother from our church...had died in her sleep a few hours before. A FEW HOURS BEFORE.

A few hours before, they were a family. A husband, wife and little boy. A few hours before, they had gone to bed, anticipating the next day because it was their little boy's 2nd birthday. A few hours before, she woke up not feeling well, but was finally able to go back to sleep. And now she was gone.

And it made sense about about all the young couples who had walked by.

And then my heart was in my throat because I put myself in the Mother's situation...and what if that was my baby girl just a few hours ago?

When we got into church, Holly and Aaron said that they had gone into that SS class. The associate minister was there to greet them, and introduced them to the class. Holly looked around and saw that many of the women were in tears. He told them about the young wife who had just passed away. She was a member of their class...and a friend to many in there. After his announcement and a prayer, the entire class left to go be with the husband at the hospital. The minister offered to walk Holly and Aaron to another class, but they declined. At this point, another class would've been in the middle of their lesson or prayer time. Holly said it was really sad and awkward. The pregnant girl had come up to her before she left and said thru her tears, "we are really a fun class and I hope you'll come back."

Holly and Aaron may not ever go back to that class. They may not ever go back to our church...not for that reason, of course, but because they are still visiting around, trying to find their place. But, I told them that that is the kind of class they need to look for. The kind that can meet and greet and laugh and cry...and who rush to your side and surround you when you are hurting.

Jim and I have been there. We were the ones who, after word got out that we'd just had Joshua, and that he had Down Syndrome, within hours, were engulfed by love and support. We were the ones who, when Joshua had his heart surgery, had to be moved to a private waiting area because there were so many people there loving and supporting our family. And years later, when I had a complicated pregnancy and premature delivery with Clark, and 2 years after that, when Clark was diagnosed with cancer...some of those same people were there...donating blood, writing cards, praying over me and my son, watching our other children, providing meals.

That's the kind of small group I want for my kids...and that's the kind of people I want them to be...pouring their lives into service for God, thru the church, thru the body, thru the needy and the hurting and the lonely and the disadvantaged.

And I never want to forget where we've been...and the ones who've walked with us on the way.

"Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep." Romans 12:15