Family

Three years ago last week, a good friend of mine was killed in a freak accident. Dustin was a freshman in college, as was I, when he was hit by a car in the middle of a snow storm, and he died in the hospital a couple days later.

The raw pain I and so many others felt over losing him still rears its head sometimes. Like today. It's still hard to believe someone so passionate, so full of life, so full of the love of Jesus, could be taken so abruptly. It's a sobering reminder of just how fragile life is, and it's a challenge to constantly check my heart and ask the question "If this was my last breath, would I be okay with standing before God and giving an account for my life?" And it's a battle to keep an eternal mindset. To remember that, though it hurts today, and I'll miss him for as long as I draw breath in this life, eventually, we'll all be in the same place, for all of eternity.

I still miss him. I miss his smile, his majorly wacky sense of humor, his talent as a musician, his love for Jesus and for those around him... I can still see him playing on the drums, closing his eyes and zoning out, giving me that goofy grin as he purposely starts messing around with the beat of a song, just to see my reaction on the piano. I miss hearing the excitement in his voice as he talked about the dreams he had for the classmates he'd started bringing with him to Chi Alpha or church. This side of heaven, I don't think I'll ever understand why he was taken from earth, practically before his life had even begun.

But. In that awful week, I did begin to understand one thing. For the first time, I felt first-hand what it meant to be a part of the family of God. That week, and in the weeks following, God surrounded me with friends who, for the first time in my life, showed me the love and support I'd so often given to others. Throughout high school, I walked a number of friends through some pretty rough situations. I'd done my best to be a rock of support, and to always be there for them and just love them the way Jesus does. It never really occurred to me that someone would do the same for me. And not even just one someone. That week I had more friends pouring into me, loving on me, and just being there for me, than I ever could have asked for. I could tell you story after story of how my friends were Jesus with skin on to me.

And since then, that love has only become more real to me. I am continually astonished at the unconditional love I'm shown. I don't deserve it, and I don't understand it. But it sure makes it easier to understand the Father's love. And it also makes it a lot easier to pour it out into the lives of those around me. After all, that's what being a part of God's family is all about.

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of all compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows."
~2 Corinthians 1:3-5