Death

I know that this title doesn't exactly make you want to devour this post, but that's okay. Its more for me than for you. So feel free to skip it or face it with me.

Two loved ones passed away this past week. One was 89, lived a good full life, left behind a husband that she'd been married to for 69 years, and left an incredible inheritance to her family. She was vibrant until her last breath and will be remembered fondly. Her time had come, and she was ready to meet her Creator.

The other one was taken too soon. He was a man with twin 4 year olds and a 7 year old, a wife of 9 years, a career and a life still meant to be lived. Cancer consumed his life over the last two years and at the end of the day, cancer won.

But Jesus did not die and defeat death so that we could walk in anything less than divine health. It is not okay for us to contract diseases and to die before we've lived an abundant and happy life. Leaving behind a spouse and young children just breaks my heart. That family was meant to have more. Jeff is still needed to tell his daughter how beautiful she looks before her first high school dance, she needs her dad to clap for her when she graduates college and she needs her dad to walk her down the aisle when she gets married. The sons need someone to throw a baseball with in the backyard, to be taught how to take a girl on a date, to give them advice on how to get into a great college and land the perfect job. Kids shouldn't have to grow up without their dad. Moms shouldn't have to raise their children without a husband.

God created us to need helpers and to live in community. To be a part of a family and to grow up with a mother and a father.

Bill Johnson talks about when his father died of cancer a few years ago, that he is now owed back 7 times what was stolen from him by the devil. And I am believing that same truth for the Rosenberg family. That they would know more love and life than they ever thought possible over the next few years. That happiness would engulf them and peace would embody them. That God would strategically put people in their lives and completely restore all that was stolen from them. They were meant to have abundant life, and I believe they will have it.