Life As an Afterschool Special

If today was not an endless highway
If tonight was not a crooked trail
If tomorrow wasn’t such a long time
Then lonesome would mean nothing to me at all

Nickel Creek~ Tomorrow is a Long Time

My best friend Susie’s brother died suddenly of a heart attack yesterday.

It is strange to have someone who you have known for so long, who is still so young, die. It is hard to wrap your brain around what happened.

Susie and her husband are out of town raising support for their ministry. I found out from Susie’s sister, and I immediately dialed every number I have for Susie and left messages telling her I loved her and I was here if she needed me.

She called back a short time later.

I cried with her on the phone, and I laughed with her as we told stories about her brother and life. I felt honored that she trusted me to share her deepest grief with.

Jeremy was a few years older than us. He was the very first person I told that I became a Christian. I had come over to see Susie, completely excited and overwhelmed with my new love and security in Christ. Susie’s family were all Christians and they had prayed for me and loved me since I was twelve.

Jeremy answered the door and said he didn’t think Susie was in. Unable to help myself I squealed “I just became a Christian”. He smiled the kind of quiet smile he had, and invited me int o tell him about it. I told him about how I had been angry about everyone talking about Jesus so much, and how my friend Kris told me the story of the cross in such a way that I got it. I understood. It was like veil had just been lifted and gods love had come flooding in.

He told me he would be right back and left the room. He came back with a green bible and gave it to me. It was the very first bible I owned, and it well read by him. He told me the importance of staying in the word as a Christian, and how excited he was for me.

Last night after I talked to Susie I laid by myself on a blanket in the grass and listened to Nickel Creek. None of my friends wanted to go to the concert because it was cold and raining, but there is something perfectly melancholy about the music and the rain, and both brought me great comfort.

I laid on my back and let the rain mix with my tears as I listened to the band sing about love and loss. And I thought back to that day, almost ten years ago, and the overwhelming joy I shared with Jeremy as we talked about the hope of heaven and the peace that transcends understanding.

And as I lay there, my overwhelming sadness for Susie and her family began to mix with the overwhelming joy and knowledge that Jeremy realized the hope of heaven. And he was in a place where there is no more pain or sadness. And that place was as real, and solid, and true as the words on the pages of the bible he gave me.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.

Revelation 21:1-7

(Susie I love you and I am praying for you and your family)

(Kari. Much much love. And prayer. And hope.)