They Say it Comes in Threes

I'm not sure who they are but I remember it from being in church all my life.  It seems as if when one person dies, two others follow suit shortly thereafter.  It's an unexplained rule.

I thought about that Monday last when I was driving to Duncanville to meet Michael for a service he was doing to remember a 27 year old mom of three and got a call that one of our dear men was on his way to the ER with a heart attack.  Oh no.  I didn't want the rule of threes to hit our family again.

Thankfully, he came home the next day and showed up to help with Bible School that night.  Whew, that was close.

Tuesday night I got a call that there was a young family expecting a baby who found out there was no heartbeat.  Wanted to know if I could do pictures for them as they said goodbye before they ever got to say hello.  It was one of the hardest, most beautiful things I've ever been a part of.  Little angel, oh, so precious.

Saturday we get a call that one of our men was on his way home to surprise his family after being away for over two years.  He had been in different care facilities after an accident and was going to surprise his sweet wife and daughter.  His wife was getting settled at home after a surgery when the local hospital called to say her husband was there.  He didn't make it.

So I guess they were right.

Where is the comfort in that week of grief?  Everywhere.

There are many kids I know that have no idea where their mommies are.  Because mommies have decided they would be happier somewhere else.  With someone else.

There are three little ones this week who know exactly where their mommy is.  There is a teenage girl who knows where her dad is, no longer in a wheelchair.  A wife who knows where her husband is and a mommy and daddy who know that their precious baby is in the arms of Jesus.

And better than knowing where they are is knowing that they will ALL see them again!

So much sweetness.

So much comfort.

Comfort in the knowledge of the reality of heaven.  Comfort in the arms of those around them, praying for them, holding them.

Comfort in the remembering.  Some remembering years of life together, some remembering only hours.

I believe three is the number of God.  

He is the Three in One.

 * Our Father.  The creator of the universe.  

All that ever was and is was created by Him.

 * His Son.  The only way to the Father.  John 14 says that 

Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.  

No one gets to the Father,

 but through
Him.

  * Holy Spirit.  Our messenger to the throne, whether we 

speak it, sigh it, or weep it.

This past week was a roller coaster of emotion.  The grief over lives lost and the joy of kids running all over the church every night and ending their evenings
 with their little hands raised in praise to the
Three in One.

Working on family pictures like no other, having to get up every once in awhile for a break to cook for the 100+ hungry tummies that would walk through the doors later that day.  Cooking while crying and breathing and praying over for the ones in the photo.

And then, hands in air, praising Him myself, for the number Three, because no matter how it comes or what it brings, there is growth. And so much Comfort.