My heart is pretty heavy as I write this. We just finished a Christmas movie: "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." We laughed and I felt cozy and drowsy in my afghan. But, then , my dad turned on the news and my heart started to fall a little bit. It feels like it's dropped, too heavy to stay high in my chest.
It was a news story about hikers on Mt. Hood. They got caught in a storm; one's body's been found, the other two are still missing. I can't, I just can't watch that and go back to working on my fun, fictional story. I'm struck with sadness. They are young. Mid to late twenties, around my age. They love Jesus, just like me. The young woman worked as a an advocate against trafficking. The two guys met at a Christian camp. Their pictures are those of people glowing with health. So full of life they seem to overflow with it. Such normal, lovely people. My stomach feels a little sick. Sometimes I can ignore the death around me, but every now and then, it s through my armor and makes me sick.
I think what makes me sick the most is how good they sound. They are active, beautiful, normal people. The kind of people I work with. The kind of people I go to school with. The kind of person my best friend is, or my sister, or my brothers. And my stomach feels sick.
Death is a surprise sometimes. A horrible surprise, and it shocks me when I see it. It can turn everything upside down. I just pray and pray that the other two hikers are still up there in the storm, alive. I pray that God's love would be like a warm blanket and wrap around them, and wrap around their families.
It's easy to close your heart, sometimes. I can make excuses for not feeling, like "If they would've been more prepared," or "That sort of thing is common for extreme hikers." But, I can't, I just can't forget it right now.
As I was praying for them, I was struck, though, with a thought. I'm going to see those hikers some day. Those hikers who love Jesus. I'll get to meet them, and we'll all get to spend forever together. Forever in happiness. I can see how the thought of eternity is so comforting. I love a man who conquered death. That's what Jesus was all about. Death may seem like this dark, scary surprise to us. But, Jesus just looked it right in the face and said, "Enough, you've had your time." There is no fear. Yeah, in this broken world we feel that grief. But our grief is not like the world's grief. We know death's power here is just a farce. O Father. Come quick.
