I don't get it...

[tpdncr4christ]

So the choir director at my church and his wife left for vacation yesterday, and died in a tragic car accident. My folks are real torn up about it, and shocked, but I feel happy at the news... He is going on the greatest vacation ever while the rest of us are stuck here. I just don't get it... I mean, I feel sorry for their families, and I'll pray for the church and stuff, but I just don't quite get it... Does anyone know what I am saying?

[pnggrad79]

TP,
Who knows why stuff like that happens? Why is that good people seem to meet their demise sooner than those who molest children? I don't get it either, but granted, they are in a better place and feel no more pain. Yes it is sad, but you can be a real help to their survivors.

[BenL]

So the choir director at my church and his wife left for vacation yesterday, and died in a tragic car accident. My folks are real torn up about it, and shocked, but I feel happy at the news... He is going on the greatest vacation ever while the rest of us are stuck here. I just don't get it... I mean, I feel sorry for their families, and I'll pray for the church and stuff, but I just don't quite get it... Does anyone know what I am saying?

We should be happy that they have an early journey home, where they can be with Jesus and all the saints. Funerals in most Western liturgical traditions are now celebrations of the Resurrection with white vestments instead mournful dirges draped in black.

But when we know someone really well, we can't help but miss them. We need to grieve to stay emotionally healthy. It's tough to dance with glee, but some of the best wakes I have attended were really celebrations, though somewhat muted, of the deceaseds' live. We give thanks for having known them and for the eternal life to which they have graduated. Remember that funerals are essentially for those left behind ... to comfort them and to remind them of the truth that you have already perceived.

Perhaps if you had been closer to the couple, you would be feeling more dejected. But you've got the right attitude. Your theology is right on!

I'll keep the family and congregation in my prayers.

[elcharrom]

So the choir director at my church and his wife left for vacation yesterday, and died in a tragic car accident. My folks are real torn up about it, and shocked, but I feel happy at the news... He is going on the greatest vacation ever while the rest of us are stuck here. I just don't get it... I mean, I feel sorry for their families, and I'll pray for the church and stuff, but I just don't quite get it... Does anyone know what I am saying?

Wait what you mean? But thats how I think of it when someone dies, they are in a better place and are no longer suffering, and then I dont feel sad no more.

[Daniel]

So the choir director at my church and his wife left for vacation yesterday, and died in a tragic car accident. My folks are real torn up about it, and shocked, but I feel happy at the news... He is going on the greatest vacation ever while the rest of us are stuck here. I just don't get it... I mean, I feel sorry for their families, and I'll pray for the church and stuff, but I just don't quite get it... Does anyone know what I am saying?

The phrase 'peace-that-passeth-understanding' comes to mind.

I've noticed in myself a tendency to become very calm once a major tragedy strikes- like a loved one dying. The run up to it? I'm no so calm. But once it happens, I turn into Mr. Calm-Center-of-the Storm. Maybe it's my way of coping. Or denial. I really don't know. But I do know that we all have our own way of dealing with things.

Your way is not going to look like everyone else's.

[Jennifer5]

I do and I don't understand.

I can't relate on a personal level, but I do understand what you're saying.

Death can be a celebration on some level... celebrate the life that was... and if the person/people were truly loved, they will never really die, as they live on in our hearts forever. :'( :love:

(ugh, I don't handle lose well)

[sailaway58]

It is natural to feel bad, empty, question God or be angry when things like this happen. We feel loss and sorrow. When we dropped our sons off at college we cried and they were going to be home for Thanksgiving!
To suddenly lose a friend for any reason would be enough cause for grief.
And just a warning, don't tell people it was their time or God needed them more than we did.
So they are in heaven, who gives a rip? The people that loved them are empty now.
I don't believe death is always in Gods time, sometimes it just sucks.
You may rejoice they're in heaven at the risk of sounding shallow.

[Pablo Rafael]

Austin,

I know exactly what you are saying. At times of death there is great joy in the certainty of the resurrection. As Christians death should be a time of rejoicing.

However, having gone through loss of both my sister and my dad at fairly young ages, I have come to think that death (at least from our perspective on this side of eternity) is more about the people who remain behind than it is about those who have died. The sorrow of death comes from the hole left behind. Those who die at younger ages also leave a sense of having left a task unfinished. The loss of someone close tears a gash in the fabric of one's life. It is a very real pain and sorrow even if we are happy that the deceased is enjoying the joys of heaven. Both sorrow and joy can exist together.

Tu Amigo, Pablo