Too Young

My son Steve lost a good friend this last week who he’s known from college. Shawn was only 50 years old and left a wife and three daughters. I knew him too, a nicer person you wouldn’t meet, one of the good guys. It reminded me of my son David’s early death and my father’s sudden death at age 49 from a heart complication, and the shock and trauma such unexpected death causes. As I relive those days and weeks of terrible grief, my heart goes out to their family. Because I know something of what they’re experiencing, I hurt deeply for them. Why were my son, dad and Shawn allowed to die so young? I don’t know, but I do know our Father redeems whatever we undergo in our lives. Such losses make us different people and more like Christ as we share with him in the suffering of others.