2010-03-02

altered experiences

woke up with a question on my mind today and thought i might throw it out there for the world to think about.

what is it that motivates people to "keep on going" through difficult and often tragic situations?

the story of the bronze medal winning Canadian skater continuing to compete, and from what i understand finishing better than expected, just days after her mother passed away has made me think through how i would handle such an experience.

another great example sits closer to home. this past weekend we welcomed back one of our band members who had been out for the last six months caring for his dying mother. (i like to call him bulletproof so i'll refer to him as BP). with his mother having passed on he decided it was time to get back in the swing of things. what i wasn't aware of was the fact that he was going through the exact same thing with his father. given only days left to live BP still made the decision to be a part of the band this weekend. on sunday morning he got word that his father had passed on - just before the last service - and with tears in his eyes he pushed forward and gave everything he had. he could have easily asked for relief or at least brought to light what was going on - but he choose instead to accomplish what was in front of him. i won't speculate here why i think he did that but i will say that his language afterward was that of someone who saw a bigger picture in all of it.

i'm interested - have any of you pushed through tragedy similar to these stories?

3 comments:

  1. Not me personally, but the Marsh family in Cypress, Texas has been for the last 10 months while watching their 2 year old die from Neuroblastoma. They are still praying for miracles, though Layla may only have days to live. Read more at www.laylagrace.org or Twitter @LaylaGrace.

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  2. And he's been helping me get my wife's estate together at the same time. He told me about his father before the 10:00 service...

    In situations like these it's seeing glimpses of the big picture that helps you get through it. Without that, we would be crushed under the weight of sorrows. It doesn't make it hurt any less. But you can endure it because of hope.

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  3. I think that strife forces you to examine what truly matters. Losing something dear to you makes all the trivial stuff seem... well... trivial. You're left looking at and evaluating the few things that actually are important. When I went through a trial, I was surrounded by some awesome people. I valued them, which made me value the reason I had them. It caused me to be more passionate about my ministry so that others would feel the hands of help that I did.

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