Torn

It has been a tough week.

I have seen a lot of grief mixed with a little celebration. A Godly man passed away last Friday. My girlfriend's father killed himself after battling with depression. I ask that you would keep her family, the Russells, in your prayers as they continue on without him each day. I never met Randy Russell in person but this past week has shown me how great a man he was and how much he loved Jesus. So this week has been extremely hard because the world has a lost a man who loved his family, his country, and his Savior. A man whose legacy and walk with Christ speaks loudly even to one who never met him. It is hard to understand why a man whose life touched so many would so suddenly die. I can't give any answers, and I have so many questions myself. But I trust you, God, and that is all that I know to do. So I am torn whether to grieve because a Godly and respected man has left this world that so desperately needs people like him or to celebrate a child of God finally seeing his Savior face to face in heaven. I feel like it is okay to do both.

So I ask you to grieve with the Russell family and friends, to pray with them, to cry with them, to remember with them, and to ask why with them as they miss a husband, father, son, brother, and friend that they loved. Yet at the same time, celebrate. Celebrate a brother of Christ going home to a place of no sorrows, worries, or troubles, a place of joy and no pain, a place where I long to be.