Life is Short....Live it in the word of God

Yesterday at church I was overwhelmed with excitement for all the new faces that I saw in the pews. We walked in and for a summer night the place was crawling with new people and old faces, people back from college. Fall is just around the corner and it will be exciting to see how Epikos grows! I found Andy's first sermon to be very touching. He speaks with such emotion and passion. He spoke of the bible and the word, and how it should be your life and your passion. I quote him, "Before you sit down at your computer, your tv, whatever it is, have you spent today in the word of God." Our lives our so busy and yet we fill it with junk continuously. Instead we should be filling it with God!

Later after church I went to go pick up some books upstairs that I want to read. Pastor Danny is requiring them for the membership class. 1. Christian Beliefs: twenty basics every Christian should know by Wayne Grudem 2 an unstoppable force: daring to be the church God had in mind by Erwin Raphael McManus 3 Building a Church of Small Groups by Bill Donahue and Russ Robinson

While on the way home I opened the first page of Christian Beliefs and read the dedication page.....i was like oh how sad...and I was about to read it to Anthony when we slammed on the breaks barely inches away from hitting a biker who was crossing the street and had not looked to see if any cars were coming. The dedication page reads,

"With thanks to God for the life and memory of
Racheal R. Freeman Grudem
Born June 2, 1982
Married to Alexander Grudem April 3, 2005
Died July 9, 2005"

I read on later that night and found out more about her life....She was the daughter in law of Dr. Wayne Grudem and died tragically in a car accident in St. Paul Minnesota.....is it only ironic that i read that right before Anthony and i could of smashed right into a man on a bike and killed him? Whats more I found this blog entry written by a friend of Alex Grudem (Racheal's husband of only 3 months).

last thursday our dear friends kacie and emily came from minnesota to denver for a visit. we took them to watercourse for breakfast on friday. we went to some crappy swim beach in morrison, but it was fun. saturday evening we settled in to watch 'mean girls', a movie which i am slightly embarassed to admit i was excited to see. about half way through the movie emily took a phone call and walked into the kitchen. i couldnt hear what was going on, but alyssa and kacie jumped up and ran to the kitchen because emily was frantic. "rachael is dead!" alyssa summed up into words the knot that was forming in my gut, "oh, alex, poor alex!" alex grudem is one of our closest friends from minneapolis. alyssa met him at school her freshman year and they have since then been very close. alex and i quickly became great friends when i moved to minnesota. we were roomates for a while until alyssa and i were married. on april 3rd of this year, alyssa and i went back to minneapolis for the wedding of alex and rachael freeman. alex and rachael started dating in february of '04. she was already part of our circle of frends as well as her brother luke. they were engadged in august of that year. admittedly alyssa and i never got as close to rachael as we were to alex, but we gladly called her our friend, and alex was very much in love. he treated her like a queen. kinda put the guys i know, including myself, to shame. rachael was killed in a car accident on saturday july 9th. hours after we got the news, and after we had all calmed down, we were in the car headed for minnesota. there was no way we were going to be away from alex. on our drive alyssa talked to oliver, alex's brother. he told us that upon seeing her body at the hospital with luke, alex began praising God. He praised God for being sovereign and for giving him such a beatiful gift if only for a short while. it was the most exauhsting week of my life. very little sleep and more crying than i have ever done. most of the time we spent just hanging out with alex at his apartment. we spent days sitting in his living room looking at wedding pictures, helping alex with the 10 or so volumes of mix c.d.'s he planned to play at her visitation, sitting outside smoking cigarettes, remembering rachael, crying, and holding eachother. he was surounded by family and friends, some of which traveled from all over the states to be there. alex was not the only person devastated by rachaels death, but everyone seemed to surround him. i think it made people feel closer to rachael, being with alex at their apartment, her jacket still on the coat rack and her shoes still outside the door. there was a visitation on wednesday. we saw her body. it didnt look like her. the body was bloated, grey, caked with make-up, and most noticably there was no smile on her face. no life. not her. this experience changed many peoples lives profoundly, and in different ways. a father and mother lost their daughter of 23 years. a brother lost his little sister whom he adored. a 25 year old man is now a widower after 3 months of marriage. many people will miss their friend, all the beauty and even all the things we wouldnt consider very flattering. emily said she wished her friend and ex-roomate could still be there even just to annoy her. friendships were strengthened and even some new bonds were made out of this tragedy. many came to understand we are not our flesh. and some who do not know Jesus came to see a picture of his love. there was a funeral and burial on thursday. it was beautiful. alex's faith is being tested, but it is strong, because his foundation is in the Love of God. he is struggling, having a hard time praying, but i know Gods grace can handle that. we had to leave early the next morning to come back home to denver. it was very difficult to leave. we want to be there for alex in the middle of the night if he needs us, but we know from what we saw, that he wont be alone. God has placed in his life what he needs to go on. its just hard not knowing what part we can play. getting back to life as usual is going to be the hardest part for us. i cant even comprehend what it will be like for alex, rachaels friends, and all her family. i pray that Gods Grace, Love, and Peace be poured out on them all.


Whats more is today on our anniversary Anthony's mother's cousin will be layed to rest. Rick Carlson was a father of young children and tragically died last week, it was unexpected, he had fallen from a roof due to a seizure he had while working on a house, he was very injured they thought he might be paralyzed...and than he had a seizure that would not stop, the doctors put him into a drug induced coma, and he never came out and was declared brain dead. suddenly in one moment his life was taken away. he was very young and loved by many. We don't know when our last days will be, but we can live them fully for God and never waste a moment, live in the moment, don't live in the future or the past, but live in today.

Ironically after learning all this and the sermon's subject i read these passages in Grudem's book last night:

"God's very words are "living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12). The words of the Bible nourish us spiritually, because Paul says it is the Word of God that is "able to build you up" (Acts 20:32) and Jesus says, "Man shall not live by bread along, but by every word that comes from the moth of God" (Matthew 4:4).

Under the dedication page for Rachael it says:

And Job said, "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord."
(Job 1:21)

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

(Romans 8:28)

"HE will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away."

(Revelation 21:4)

This is for Rick's family and for Alex (Rachael's husband):

My Loved One Is Gone

Dear Lord. I miss my loved one so. there's a huge gap in my life. Will it ever be filled? In all this, I am grateful for friends and family who show they care and Comfort and help me find my way through all of this. Let me recall and cherish the good times, to let the bad memories go.

How will I bear my loss? I long for the company of one who was so full of life like the roses outside my window. As my roses will fade from winter's chill, so, too, have I seen my loved one fade. I gaze at my lovely garden with its splendid array of color. I'm reminded that my dear one who loved You will blossom in full glory for You in heaven.

I take comfort in Your presence and know that you will always abide with me.

Lord, I can hardly stand all the hurts and sin in this world as I'm forced to brush shoulders with it daily. Thank You for living me in my weakest moments. Loved ones and friends fall away from you, marriages dissolve, Little children suffer from abuse, illness, and neglect. Lord, take me home. I'm tired of being here. I feel ashamed to pray this way. But, oh, the pain.

"Not my will, but Thine be done." If you need to keep me here, so be it, dear Lord, although I long to be with You. As long as You have a purpose for me, I will serve You with all my heart. Grant me strength, I pray. And, Father, when You're finished with me here, I'm ready to come home to You.

- Anita Corrine Donihue