Matthew 28:2 HCSB
I remember the day my dad died. I went back by myself to see his lifeless body, no breath, no color, just emptiness. I kept thinking, ”Take one more breath dad. Would someone please paddle him again and send enough electrical current through him to make his heart beat again?” That’s what my mind and heart were saying, but I knew the reality was – Dad’s heart had no more energy to beat again.
I know, morbid way to begin a post, but it is honest and it is what everyone feels when they see a loved one’s lifeless body. It is what every parent in Uvalde, TX is feeling this week. They would love to turn back time. There are if’ns and but’s a plenty floating around, but we can’t turn back time. We can’t live in the ”if only” world. It won’t bring back the lives of these precious children or the teachers who died protecting them.
And we can’t offer empty platitudes. So I won’t.
I’ve prayed on what to write. I’ve put myself in these parent’s shoes, and when I do that I know I can’t even imagine the soul sucking, breath taking grief they must feel. I have no words. My thoughts explode, my emotions dive, and my heart spirals in empathy and sympathy for those who mourn.
I don’t have the words, but I do have The Living Word, Jesus. He is the Resurrection and The Life.
“We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. Since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in the same way God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus.”
1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 HCSB
“I pray that the perception of your mind may be enlightened so you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the glorious riches of His inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power to us who believe, according to the working of His vast strength. He demonstrated this power in the Messiah by raising Him from the dead and seating Him at His right hand in the heavens —”
Ephesians 1:18-20 HCSB
“God raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power.”
1 Corinthians 6:14 HCSB
“We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. Since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in the same way God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus. For we say this to you by a revelation from the Lord: We who are still alive at the Lord’s coming will certainly have no advantage over those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are still alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.”
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 HCSB
These words aren’t empty. They are Truth. They are God’s promises. It is the result of Jesus’ Resurrection. The Empty Tomb is our proof. These Words work miracles in minds.
Earth shaking power was released the day Jesus walked out of that grave, and that same power lives on in His promises.
I miss my dad still. The ache of death does not just go away. People cannot heal another’s grief. Only God has that power and He showed it that day when Jesus rose.
A woman named Martha once said to Jesus, ”Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” Martha’s words could be on the lips of every grieving heart. Jesus’ words once comforted Martha. Can they comfort ours in these dark hours?
“Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Me, even if he dies, will live.”
John 11:25 HCSB