Love One Another

Wow - it has been a long time since I blogged. It is May already and I think I missed the entire month of April!

It has been non-stop madness this Easter season. It all started with a trip to Tucson to be with my Godson as he received his Baptism, First Communion, and Confirmation! Easter Vigil service was truly moving and I am a huge fan of full immersion baptism and I was not disappointed - he got dunked 3x times. Oh - good times!

Then I left for a week trip to Korea. It was bittersweet. It was fun seeing some of my friends that I had not seen in 5 years and it was fun revisiting some of the places that we enjoyed.

But it was also tough walking the ground where I last held my baby. Rebecca's entire life was in those few blocks. Only our neighbors (less than a dozen) really had a chance to know her, work to get her to smile, share in our joy and comfort us in our grief.

Someday I will write more but not today.

Today, I want to tell you what brought us through the worst time of our life. As we were adrift in our grief, praying for our own deaths, what got us through was love.

Just love.

The love that we had for our remaining children and to get them through their own grief. The love of our neighbors that supported us. The love of our family and friends that prayed for us all around the world. The love of a merciful God who put us exactly in those few blocks so that we could survive this terrible event.

It is odd to say that it was good that we were in this remote location, halfway around the world from our family and our country, but it was exactly where we needed to be.

The hardest part for me was to reach the point where I gave up my will and said, "Lord, your will be done." - and let Rebecca go.

But if that was all - I don't think I would have made it. I'm human, I can't see the end, and when I hurt - I need comfort. I need someone to hold me and tell me they're sorry too. To sit with me and just be there.

We all need that.

And that's the point of this simple reading. God knows it too.

John 13: 33-35

33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, `Where I am going you cannot come.'
34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

We can out think ourselves. We can get confused by all the details and nuance of our faith. It's wonderful but it can also distract us.

It boils down to this - love one another as Jesus loved us.

If we do this simple thing then we will truly be disciples of Christ. Then we will be one step closer to God and to heaven. Not far away, but right here, right now.

I can tell you from personal experience that it means everything. And I hope that I can show the same love for others that was shown to me.

And you can too.

Can you imagine what our world would be like if we all just loved each other?

Wow - it would be like heaven!

And I hope to see you in heaven someday. You will recognize me easily enough - I'll be the one holding Rebecca!