People say they can't imagine what it is like to lose a child. I can imagine because I feared that very thing for years when my child used drugs as a teen.
But in my church, there was a man who had compassion and took a liking to my son. He had two sons of his own and just pulled my son in as well.All through a few years of Royal Rangers, then into Youth Group , my son was a handful of rebellion. This man gave his time & energy to my son, who was polite, even liked the guy, but he paid no mind to making different choices.
If we said blue, he said black, if we said yes, he said no. No matter what circumstance came up, if there was trouble, my son was involved. And the worst part was everyone knew it. It never changed the love this man had for my son.
I would constantly pray for God's protection on my son's life and many times he came through accidents that should have killed him. But God kept him safe. He had to pay the consequences for his wrong actions, but he never lost his life. God was faithful to a mother's prayer.
And then tonight. I went back to that church I had brought my kids up in. In some ways it felt like 'going home' . I was greeted by many faces from long ago who recognized me. But standing up front was the most familiar face. That of the man who helped my son so many years ago. Next to him lay the casket of his son who overdosed on drugs and died.
How do I express my sorrow? How do I tell you that I know how you feel and but for God's grace, I could be in your shoes right now?
I was next in line, but I couldn't speak when it was my turn to greet him. I didn't need any words. He could read in my eyes everything that I wanted to say but couldn't express. He knew and without any words spoken to him, he whispered to me. "It means alot that you came, how's your son?"
There are some people you meet and are barely touched by their presence, but then there are those who's presence bring sunshine in the darkest of pain, even when the pain is their own.
I left the service with sunshine in my heart, because of one man, whose love reached out once again to me and my son . I am truly blessed.
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