A TRAGIC FUNERAL

I just returned from a funeral. All funerals are sad. They equal death, and death equals separation from loved ones, and separation from loved ones equals sadness. But the funerals that are the saddest--and I've attended hundreds since I'm a minister's wife--are the ones involving young people and children. Older people have had a chance to see and experience life, but when young people and children die, well, it gets you in your gut. And heart.

This one today was for a 24-year-old young man who was the grandson-in-law of some of our church members, and we went to support and minister to them. Last week the young man was in his front yard, and this week, is dead. He collapsed on the lawn, his vital organs shut down, and he hovered between life and death in a coma all week. Thursday night, he died.

He left behind a beautiful blond 21-year-old widow Maggie and a 17-month-old daughter. At the close of the funeral, Maggie came up on the platform and addressed the crowd. She said her husband, let's call him "J," was her soulmate, her lover, and her best friend. People were dabbing at their tears. She talked about how much he loved her and their daughter, and what he meant to her.

People were openly sobbing.

Then, like a preacher in his pulpit, she expounded and exhorted about making right choices and NOT choosing drugs or drinking, or doing "just a small bag," or "just one more hit," etc. She talked about J's struggle his entire life, and the crowd cried harder. She talked about the party atmosphere young adults clamored after. She pleaded with the numbers of young adults there to STOP doing what J had done, and to get their lives right and to get saved, giving Christ their hearts and lives.

Then, she came down from the platform and trailed her fingers down the side of J's casket and across the part where his head lay.

The crowd passed tissues down the aisles and sobbed.

She said, "This is my song to J." From the speakers came a song about "you're my friend and lover." Someone came up and handed her their baby. With the baby in her arms, Maggie danced a slow dance in front of the casket as she sang along with the music.

The crowd continued their sobbing.

Then Maggie danced out a side door, and the family members followed.

Talk about sad?

Oh, my.

Maggie said if some of the young people attending made changes in their lives, then J's death wouldn't be a total loss.

During the service, the minister made similar comments to Maggie's and even led the crowd in a sinner's prayer--silently inviting Christ into their lives. Then he asked those who had prayed the prayer in their hearts to please raise their hands. He announced that between 15 and 20 hands went up.

Oh, Lord, strengthen these young people who made commitments to You today. Let them continue to be open to Your voice, and let them find a church where they can be discipled and nurtured in Your ways, oh God.

Oh, Father, speak to them, continue to woo them with cords of love.

And give me a deeper burden to reach the lost.