A year ago today I was slinging my duffel bag into
the trunk of our rental car to head to the airport, unexpectedly en route to South Sudan. I flew from
Charlotte to New York, and then on to Amsterdam. Somewhere over the Atlantic,
I woke up suddenly with the words, “love is stronger than death” burning and
rolling over and over in my mind. I heard them almost audibly, and when I heard
them I knew that Brian had gone to be with Jesus.
This is an awkward story to tell people because if sounds
fake and overly sentimental, but that is what happened. I checked Facebook in
the Amsterdam airport and found his wall filling up with words of love and
grief and hope. A life well lived is mourned in a beautiful way. When someone
leaves us, and one of our primary emotions is thankfulness- thankfulness that
we had any time with them at all- that is beautiful. Brian lived his life
beautifully, and the world is poorer without him.
I feel like I hardly have the right to miss him, so let me mark the anniversary of his passing here on this little blog that hardly anybody reads. I miss you, my one in a million friend. So thankful for your life. So thankful for a Love that conquers the grave.
