Grief

It's strange the way grief hits you in waves. For much of the last 4 months since my Dad passed I have been so busy with my family and ministry to think much about the reality of losing him. It has probably helped that it wasn't abnormal to go several weeks in between phone calls and several months in between visits. So the trip to Guntersville this weekend was more difficult than I thought it would be.

Raw emotions, raw emotions, and more raw emotions...

I had changed out some CDs in my car before we left so that I would have some that were in the car with us for the trip. One that I had in the changer when I got back was Springsteen's Greatest Hits. The song Badlands has stuck in my head in a different way today with these lines,

I believe in the love that you gave me

I believe in the faith that could save me

I believe in the hope and I pray that someday it may raise me above these badlands...

If I had to express my thoughts on grief, suffering, and death it would be Badlands, a place of desperation, desolation, and in once sense hopelessness. As Christians of course, our hope is rooted in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, however that hope does NOT take away the feelings of pain and despair that accompany the loss of someone you love. But the lyrics are reminders that some day we will rise above these "badlands" and that the full power of the resurrection will be known to all of God's children who may mourn for tonight but trust that tomorrow will be a new day.