Today should be a monumental day for me. I have been faithful for 100 days now. This is the first new years resolution that I have kept for this long. I have been looking forward to the big 100 for some time now. Each child has rallied for the position to be featured on the 100th day post. They have each pitched their ideas of what I could do for the big post for weeks now. However, sometimes life jumps in and spoils our most well thought out plans. In this case, life has smacked us in the face literally.
This is my brother in law, Mike. He lives life his own way, always has. He loves the outdoors. He is always climbing a mountain, skiing down one, or running along the valleys. He loves to teach, even though he has never discovered that as a profession. At any given moment he is ready to teach someone how to climb, ski, or raft, and he has the patience of Job while doing it. He just wants to see people become as passionate as he is about the things he loves. That is his reward.
Mike is an awesome Uncle. He is a jungle gym. When he is in town, he is all about my kids. He will even kick Paul and I out of our own house so he can baby sit. He doesn't just baby sit, he takes it over the top. We left him for four hours one time, and by the time we returned, the kids had been shopping, found some bouncy things to jump on, gotten ice cream, gone to the park, then they were all crashing from their sugar induced comas when we arrived home. After all that, we found him on the floor in the basement on all fours with three kids climbing on him like he was a jungle gym. He is thin, but he is so strong. The kids love their Uncle Mike.
Mike is by no means perfect, he has made his fair share of mistakes. But, after finding himself in the depths of despair, he dug his heals in and took control to change his fate. Four years ago, he joined the military knowing that the discipline involved with being in the service would be good for him. We stood by him, and were excited to see the positive changes he was making. He reentered civilian life at the end of last year, and he began school. This time he knew what he wanted to do, he wanted to be a nurse and help people. His grades are great. He works so hard at being the best and out shining all the younger students in the class.
Unfortunately for Mike, my husband, and our kids, this is where the story ends. Today on this 100th day of the new year, we have been busy trying to make sense of this fragile thing we call life. You see, yesterday while we were busy heading to church, having Easter dinners, eating chocolate bunnies, taking pictures, and dying eggs, Mike's life was taken all to soon. Mike had gotten a brand new pair of running shoes, and he laced them up and headed out for a Easter morning run. He headed out on a familiar route and found his stride. His feet pounded the concrete of the sidewalk, when out of no where, an small SUV left the roadway and struck him. He was thrown 30 feet through the air, the force of the impact so strong that it threw him out of those brand new shoes. Then there, his body lay under a shade tree in the lawn of a church. His Easter Sunday had come to an end. We continued to enjoy ours not knowing what had happened until nine hours later when they were finally able to identify his body. Our kids were headed to bed when they learned that their human jungle gym wouldn't be coming back for a visit.....to say that we are devastated would be an understatement.
My mind wants to immediately jump to the whys. But I know that here, I will probably never understand. I can't help but want to cry out to God, "HE WAS GETTING IT ALL TOGETHER, WHY TAKE HIM NOW." But again, I know that it is not for me to know, I must just rest my head in his promises and in his word, and draw strength from them. So for now, I will try to get a little rest on this special 100th day and claim...Isaiah 41:10 fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
