A Piece of Their Grief

This wasn’t what I’d planned to write about today.

But my heart has been gripped by the tragic bus accident that happened in Indianapolis on Saturday.  Along with another adult, the youth pastor and his wife were killed. 

It’s difficult to read his Twitter account on that morning as he tweets of the youth group’s departure from camp and asks for prayers for safety.  Later, just over an hour before the accident occurred, he tweets their anticipated arrival time at the church.

Why has this story touched me so?

Maybe it’s because our church teens were returning from camp the same day.

Maybe it’s because, like this father and son, my dad is a pastor and my brother works with the church youth group.

Maybe it’s because I’ve put my girls on a bus before and just assumed that they will return to me safely.

Or maybe it’s because I, too, have lost a child.

Mine was just a stillborn infant.  While I only had nine months of memories – and these parents have many more – I can still feel the raw edges of that grief.  I can’t begin to comprehend all of the pain – from loss of loved ones to seeing an orphaned toddler and the motherless children of the other woman who left this world. 

Yet from my experience, there are a few things I know.

• I know that God is good.
• I know that God gives grace, a special grace, a grace that non-believers can’t understand.
• I know where my child – and these loved ones – are.

While I know people who know the families of those who were involved, I’ll likely never meet any of them personally here on earth. 

But in these dark days of sorrow, I want them to know that a piece of their grief is mine.