As a pastor, I get to be with people in their times of great joy and their times of great sorrow. I'm there when their faces beam as they hold their healthy newborn in their arms. I'm also there as they stand beside the casket of their loved ones and their cries emanate from deep within the recesses of their souls.
Today, I experienced one of those powerful moments...
I was with a member of my church and her family as they went into the room in the funeral home to view the body of her beloved husband. The grief she experienced was overwhelming and can only be understood by someone who has stood beside the cold, lifeless body of a loved one knowing that they will never see them again this side of Heaven.
As friends were invited into the room for the viewing, a few ladies from Westside were at the front of the line. They gave hugs to the bereaved. They gave words of condolence, the promise of prayers and the assurance of their presence. Then, they came and stood by me as we talked.
These ladies are extra special to me. They are incredibly encouraging to me in their words virtually every week. They each have assured me over and over that they are praying for me as I pastor Westside Baptist Church.
But there is one thing that was true of each of those three ladies that made that moment extremely powerful for me. They each had been married and had also previously stood by the casket of their beloved husband. As they watched a newly grieving widow this afternoon, they knew what it was like. They had been there. They, too, had cried. They, too, had wished a thousand times that the pain would go away. As they stood beside me and looked on the intense pain and sorrow, it almost certainly brought back painful memories.
Yet, they showed up anyway to encourage a grieving friend knowing of the pain it would cause them.
THAT is true friendship. THAT is what it looks like to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. THAT is what it is like to be "Jesus" to others. And THAT was a powerful moment that I won't soon forget.
Today, I experienced one of those powerful moments...
I was with a member of my church and her family as they went into the room in the funeral home to view the body of her beloved husband. The grief she experienced was overwhelming and can only be understood by someone who has stood beside the cold, lifeless body of a loved one knowing that they will never see them again this side of Heaven.
As friends were invited into the room for the viewing, a few ladies from Westside were at the front of the line. They gave hugs to the bereaved. They gave words of condolence, the promise of prayers and the assurance of their presence. Then, they came and stood by me as we talked.
These ladies are extra special to me. They are incredibly encouraging to me in their words virtually every week. They each have assured me over and over that they are praying for me as I pastor Westside Baptist Church.
But there is one thing that was true of each of those three ladies that made that moment extremely powerful for me. They each had been married and had also previously stood by the casket of their beloved husband. As they watched a newly grieving widow this afternoon, they knew what it was like. They had been there. They, too, had cried. They, too, had wished a thousand times that the pain would go away. As they stood beside me and looked on the intense pain and sorrow, it almost certainly brought back painful memories.
Yet, they showed up anyway to encourage a grieving friend knowing of the pain it would cause them.
THAT is true friendship. THAT is what it looks like to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. THAT is what it is like to be "Jesus" to others. And THAT was a powerful moment that I won't soon forget.
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