Every new year, I pray a deeply sincere prayer for our Colfax community. I pray a prayer that there may be no deaths due to suicide, abuse or violent crime.
In my eleven years in serving this community I have only had two years in which none of our youth have met their end in any one of these manners. There has not been one year that we have been totally free of some violent passing among our community.
This January, I was contacted on Facebook by one of our alumni teens, sharing that his brother & the brother’s girlfriend had succeeded in committing suicide together after a previous attempt that failed.
He confessed that his family didn’t feel that a pastor or church would pray with them. They asked if I would come sit with the family and say something at the funeral.
I offered to bring a pastor along with me, but they said they didn’t want to feel any worse than they did and trusted me to be with them.
At these times, my heart aches for the damage people have felt when dealing with loss due to suicide. I fear that I am so inadequate and unschooled.
I hit my knees in prayer long before I made my way to their house. I thank God that I am not alone as I strive to lift Christ’s love up in this, my community.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Keep in clean, relevant, and insightful! =]