There’s no two ways about it: Death sucks. And death has visited our Catch community at least twice in the last few weeks.
Priscilla, our longtime MemberPartner from Rochester, New York, just recently moved into a new home, and before she could even adjust to the move, she lost her dear husband, Jack. Born November 9, 1933, he was a sports enthusiast, and coached basketball and soccer at Roberts Wesleyan College. Jack was Athletic Director there for 13 years, and in 1982, he was inducted into the RWC Hall of Fame. Priscilla thinks he’s the handsomest man in the world, and she may be right.
For four days during his rapid decline, Jack was in a bed in the hallway of the hospital because all the rooms were taken up with COVID patients. Imagine that. They finally got him into a room shortly before he died.
Now, Priscilla must adjust to a new home alone and also to being a widow. But Priscilla is tough. She’s already trying to work through the stages of grief and it’s only been a week. Death sucks, but you have to absorb it. You can’t push it aside, nor can you speed up the process. You have to go through it. Pray she makes it through.
Priscilla can’t go home right now. Empty walls echo too much. Fortunately, she has family nearby, and when she can’t stand the echo, she grabs a toothbrush and heads to her son’s house.
And then there’s our dear friend we call Siri, from Marin, California. Not sure where the name “Siri” came from, except it has something to do with Sir Isaac Newton, but we’re not sure where that came from either. Siri was a character. He wrote us often and even when he was struggling with cancer, he would send us prayer requests for his friends and neighbors, including those in hospital beds next to his. He never told us much about his condition, but he kept our prayer warriors busy with everyone else’s problems. That’s just the way he was. He loved God and always talked about being taken care of by Dr. Jesus.
His brother, Peter, is the one who let us know Siri had passed, and thanked everyone who kept in touch with him. Siri loved his Catch friends.
Yes, death sucks, but death is not the last word. Death is only a doorway, a passageway, a portal to eternity with Jesus. The loss is real; the separation is deep, but only temporary; the reunion is forever.
“O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” 1 Corinthians 15:55
Leave a Reply