time to say goodbye

'Friends are nature's way of apologizing for our family'. it's been said quite a few times. so i found out a friend of mine's gonna be going away, too soon if you ask me. i was just getting used to having you around, you know... Sometimes as you walk life's road there are just places you can't walk alone, and thank God for people like you who just make it all easier. I've never written a whole blog post thing to one person before, its weird telling you all this here, but this way unless the Internet crashes my words will stay forever.
I can't begin to say how much your absence will be felt, but I'm grateful for what few moments the Lord gave us to share. i don't know what people do in situations like this, usually I'm the one leaving, but I figure it would be a nice gesture to give you something to remember me by. Something thought out and honest, something you'd never lose. It was a tall order. i thought of all my prized possessions, but there wasn't anything wonderful enough, nothing that would tell you everything I think.
So then dear friend, I give you my most prized possession: I give you Jesus. I pray that He shall watch over you, and bear you up in His arms. I pray for you with every word in the 20th Psalm. I give you the Friend who sticks closer than a brother, the One whom no ocean can keep away. i place you in the hands of Him who loves you more than I ever could. So long my friend, we shall meet again I know, should it so please the King.
One of my favourite rock bands are the Sidewalk Prophets, and they  sang a song just for a time like this. i pray over you the words of this song

Three in the morning,
And I'm still awake,
So I picked up a pen and a page,
And I started writing,
Just what I'd say,
If we were face to face,
I'd tell you just what you mean to me,
I'd tell you these simple truths,

Be strong in the Lord and,
Never give up hope,
You're going to do great things,
I already know,
God's got His hand on you so,
Don't live life in fear,
Forgive and forget,
But don't forget why you're here,
Take your time and pray,
These are the words I would say,


From one simple life to another,
I will say,
Come find peace in the Father,

Five years from now, hope you'll still remember me ;))))))))))

a tribute to Faith Nancy, aka Sweetie, gone too soon

Death and grief are little things. They are transient. Life must be before death and joy before grief, else there are no such things as death or grief. These are only negatives, life is positive. Death is only the absence of life, just as night is the absence of day, and if this is so, there is no such thing as death. 

Frank Norris - The Octopus: A Story of California

I don't know exactly who that Frank fella is, I'd like to know where he was coming from when he said those things, if he was just speaking theory or if he really did know true grief, that caused by the loss of someone close. An old school mate, Faith Nancy, passed away on Saturday in a car accident, they lay her to rest on Friday. Death is not something I have met often, thank God, but every time it comes around I find myself asking the very basic questions.

In a copy of True Love, about three years ago I read Carole Mandi's story. She was the then editor of True Love, now she's a publisher of that group of magazines: True Love, Adam and a few others i don't know. So anyway, Carole's daughter died when she was five, after some long complicated illness, I even remember her name, Misuka (and was she pretty!!!). I still remember Carole's words as she spoke of her, "A mother should never have to bury her child". If ever there was a scale of pain, I think this ranks way up there. And I don't think it matters how old they were, even if they were just a few months old, even if it was a miscarriage. One of my aunts lost her daughter when she was three years old, more than thirty years ago, and even to-date, whenever she speaks of her she says that not a day goes by that she does not think of her daughter: how old she'd be now, what she'd be like, who she'd be married to... No mother should ever have to bury their daughter.

As I think of Sweetie, I feel sad, for her mother greater than anyone else. I love how Mary Morand 'Sofine', puts it in her Motherhood - It will change your life. See, I have known the Lord, I know that God is love, and that in all things He is working for our good, everything He does is driven by His love. It doesn't make processing this any easier. She had a two year old chubby angel called Lasoi, and Faith's passing is supposed to be for her good. It's for her mother's good as well... I really want to question, I really want to ask why, I really want to know how it could possibly be for Lasoi's good, this her mum's passing. Frank Norris isn't helping. And if I feel this way, how must her mother feel? How will Lasoi feel when she's old enough to understand?

We make all our plans as though we hold the future, can we do anything but? But when all out of nowhere death calls, when the Lord calls home someone we thought would live forever, what does that say about our mortality?

...and you learn to build all your roads on today,

Because tomorrow's ground is too uncertain for plans

and futures have a way of falling down in mid-flight

...and you learn that you really can endure-

that you really are strong

and you really do have worth

and you learn and learn...

With every goodbye you learn.

Veronica Shoffstall - After a While

Farewell Sweetie, I believe there is a plan bigger than all of us. I don't know the plan, but I do know the Planner, and I may not understand His ways, but I trust Him to do the best for all of us. I trust the love that He commended toward us, Christ dying for us while we were yet sinners. In His time, He shall cause all these things to be beautiful...

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts to wisdom

Psalms 90:12