dealing with loss

At one point or another we all lose a loved one. Death is inevitable and everybody deals with it differently. Some people rely on others to help them cry out the pain and some need to be alone and shed their tears alone. Some people are waterfalls of tears and others hold it all in until they are bursting at the seams. It's at these points in life that we tend to reevaluate our own lives and the impact we have on the world and those around us. Do you truly live life according to God? Are you compassionate and forgiving? Of course the unexpected losses seem to be harder to accept than those who have lived a full life. Even at that, it's hard to find joy in the loss of those you love.

Last week a friend of mine lost her husband at the young age of 31. Another friend also found out her father has Stage 4 kidney cancer and won't survive it.

And now, it is with sadness that I have to inform you of a loss in our family. Kevin lost his Grandfather today from an unexpected heart attack. Grandpa LaPean had been battling lung cancer for a few years now, but a heart attack wasn't expected. He was a loving man and leaves behind a large family to carry on his life's doings. As Albert Einstein said, "Our death is not an end if we can live on in our children and the younger generation.  For they are us, our bodies are only wilted leaves on the tree of life." He will be sorely missed.

Living a few hours away from Grandpa, it's now that I regret we have not made it up there to see him more often. See what I mean, we tend to reevaluate our lives when we lose the ones we love. He leaves behind his beautiful wife, four kids and multiple grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Please pray for his family and this loss as we travel North to celebrate and mourn his entry into Heaven and his life on Earth.