Outpouring of love
It has been amazing to see the outpouring of love and sympathy to our family after the death of my dad. Before we left, close friends called to say how sad they were and expressed sorrow for what we were going through. Most of them were friends of my wife that she talks with on the phone quite often. One phone call that meant a lot to me was of one of these ladies who called and talked directly to me and then her husband insisted on talking to me also and expressed his sorrow and offering anything that we needed.
When we flew to Texas to be with the rest of my family, we saw more amazing examples of people's love esp. from my mom's church. She had people coming by in a constant stream. The whole week we were there we had meals provided for us or leftovers that fed us every meal. A few days these meals fed more than 20 family members. There were then many who sent flowers, sympathy cards, and memorial gifts. It was a wonderful testimony of the love of Jesus being shown. I think it also showed the number of people who were touched in some way by my father. There were hundreds of people who came for the funeral even with bad weather and bad road conditions. I'll post more about the memorial service later.
For us personally back at home, we were blessed again by ones who expressed sorrow even though they didn't know my dad. My dad was active in the Gideons and Mom had listed this organization best known for placing Bibles in hotels as one of the memorial requests for people to donate Bibles in memory of my dad. Several at our church did this for us too. Everyone has really been amazing and we really appreciate it.
Well... not quite "everyone". There were a couple of ladies who really had no sensitivity and were plain rude to my wife. We got back late on a Friday night from Texas. On Saturday, we slept in and then most of the day we were recovering and it was really a day when things were quiet and it really sank in for us so we were quite weepy that day. There was a big baby shower that my wife was supposed to go to and even help some with, but she really wasn't able to do that and her friends understood and helped. I didn't have time to prepare my Sunday school lesson to teach, and we didn't really feel like going to church on Sunday. Well, we went to church on Wednesday night and were still struggling with seeing people, not knowing what to say, and trying not to cry a few times. Then there were these two ladies that my wife walked up to that stunned her with their comments. One chastised my wife for being on the phone several times when she tried to call and the line was busy. And she wasn't calling to offer her condolences... no she was calling to brag about herself and something she had just accomplished. Then the other asks my wife when we got back. When she said on Friday, the lady proceeds to say "so why weren't you at the shower on Saturday, and then you didn't even come to church on Sunday????" My wife was taken aback so she didn't have a good comeback as this gal made her feel dumb and like she had to come up with an excuse. How insensitive is that? It is really no huge surprise from these two as they are generally always negative and they wear their true feelings on their sleeve and rudeness often spews out of their mouth and they are often very self-centered and often critical of others and very envious of others and ... well let's just say they are a great example of relying on the Holy Spirit's power to show them love.
Now that I go back and read this, I wish I had made a separate post for the negative because it may overshadow the positive. It really shouldn't. It has been really neat to experience God's love for us during our loss. It also has really convicted us that we need to be sensitive to others when they go through these times and to not hesitate but offer your sorrow and help. It really does mean a lot and we are Christians and know my dad had a relationship with Christ. I think it may be even more meaningful to show this love to those who may not know Christ and to show His love to them in their time of sorrow.
When we flew to Texas to be with the rest of my family, we saw more amazing examples of people's love esp. from my mom's church. She had people coming by in a constant stream. The whole week we were there we had meals provided for us or leftovers that fed us every meal. A few days these meals fed more than 20 family members. There were then many who sent flowers, sympathy cards, and memorial gifts. It was a wonderful testimony of the love of Jesus being shown. I think it also showed the number of people who were touched in some way by my father. There were hundreds of people who came for the funeral even with bad weather and bad road conditions. I'll post more about the memorial service later.
For us personally back at home, we were blessed again by ones who expressed sorrow even though they didn't know my dad. My dad was active in the Gideons and Mom had listed this organization best known for placing Bibles in hotels as one of the memorial requests for people to donate Bibles in memory of my dad. Several at our church did this for us too. Everyone has really been amazing and we really appreciate it.
Well... not quite "everyone". There were a couple of ladies who really had no sensitivity and were plain rude to my wife. We got back late on a Friday night from Texas. On Saturday, we slept in and then most of the day we were recovering and it was really a day when things were quiet and it really sank in for us so we were quite weepy that day. There was a big baby shower that my wife was supposed to go to and even help some with, but she really wasn't able to do that and her friends understood and helped. I didn't have time to prepare my Sunday school lesson to teach, and we didn't really feel like going to church on Sunday. Well, we went to church on Wednesday night and were still struggling with seeing people, not knowing what to say, and trying not to cry a few times. Then there were these two ladies that my wife walked up to that stunned her with their comments. One chastised my wife for being on the phone several times when she tried to call and the line was busy. And she wasn't calling to offer her condolences... no she was calling to brag about herself and something she had just accomplished. Then the other asks my wife when we got back. When she said on Friday, the lady proceeds to say "so why weren't you at the shower on Saturday, and then you didn't even come to church on Sunday????" My wife was taken aback so she didn't have a good comeback as this gal made her feel dumb and like she had to come up with an excuse. How insensitive is that? It is really no huge surprise from these two as they are generally always negative and they wear their true feelings on their sleeve and rudeness often spews out of their mouth and they are often very self-centered and often critical of others and very envious of others and ... well let's just say they are a great example of relying on the Holy Spirit's power to show them love.
Now that I go back and read this, I wish I had made a separate post for the negative because it may overshadow the positive. It really shouldn't. It has been really neat to experience God's love for us during our loss. It also has really convicted us that we need to be sensitive to others when they go through these times and to not hesitate but offer your sorrow and help. It really does mean a lot and we are Christians and know my dad had a relationship with Christ. I think it may be even more meaningful to show this love to those who may not know Christ and to show His love to them in their time of sorrow.
posted by whaaaat! at
7:50 AM
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