Fathering in Faith

I can’t imagine having gone through this without any community.

About a month ago, I joined a Facebook group for widows and widowers and the overwhelming thing I see is people who feel completely alone. I haven’t had to experience that in its fullness. I’m thankful for that.

Yes, I have loneliness. I deeply miss Christina. She was my everything. She was the anchor of our home. She was my home. But I am not alone.

I think about the first portion of Job’s walk after his great loss (I’m in Job in my Bible reading. God has a sense of humor I guess). But in that first time after, his friends just came and sat with him. What a great reminder is that a person grieving doesn’t need magic words. They just need presence. The friends sort of messed that up later on when they were telling Job all the ways he could work out his new situation with God haha.

But I had and still have so much presence in my life. The picture above is my church family as well as Christina’s school family. They all showed up to the hospital just to be there. They spent about 5 minutes with me total but were there for hours. And they never stopped showing up. So many more people than pictured have shown up with food, care, time, and money. All those things are so helpful.

Here’s the deal, as I spent this morning at church, I was just so thankful. Thankful that I have this community because of what Jesus did. He unified all believers. He brought us to this specific church. He knew I needed them. But so many people don’t have that.

So this post has three purposes.

1) to simply state the thankfulness I have for my church, community, family, and friends.

2) to encourage the Church to BE the Church. This is what I call the capital “C” Church. That means the global church and not just my congregation. We have the opportunity to show the greatest love to the people are hurting the most. Seek out hurting people and be generous with your time and money to bring them comfort, but more so, a loving community. They will know we are Christian’s by our love.

3) To appeal to those who don’t believe in Jesus or have not been a part of a church community to seek that out. Jesus not only takes our yoke Himself, He also calls us to share one another’s burdens. God made the church for many things, but one of the most beautiful things is the Church caring for one another. Loneliness will still be there for those who experience loss. The church will never fill the void of Christina, but they will support me, help me heal, love me, and encourage me as I grieve. If you don’t have this, please trust in Jesus for salvation and also join a church for the benefits of a life with one another in Christ.

So thank you, Fellowship Bible Church. Thank you for being there to stop me from falling into despair. And keep being the church for so many who grieve all sorts of things.