Life Happens

As she walked down the aisle, arm in arm with her Dad, she looked beautiful.  Talking quietly & giggling, these two friends of mine had come to a significant day in their lives. Life happens.

The Dad looked fit & happy, just as I remembered him.  Though in his fifties now, he worked hard and served others with a passion.  I hadn’t seen him in about 5 years, but I consider him a good friend.  We served together in many different ministry ventures, and he gave so much through his business and time in the early years of the non-profit ministry I had started.  He’s a good man, a good husband and a very good Dad – all three of his kids are great young people, now all grown and both his sons (one of whom my wife assisted with his home birth) nearly match his 6′ 7″ frame.  Life happens.

The young lady on his arm who everyone was staring at, well, I found it almost impossible to believe it was her.  She’s that little girl with the big smile that used to run around church in the early days of my ministry.  Always the helper in Kid’s Church and AWANA, she’s grown to become a very special young woman who still serves with her heart.  Through the ceremony and reception I recalled moments with her and her family, long since tucked away in my memories.  They made me smile, and I couldn’t help wonder what adventures – good or not so good – would fill the life of this young bride and her new husband.  Life happens.

I also couldn’t help thinking of the time that’s passed.  The kids from my first church are grown, most of them married and many with kids of there own running around churches somewhere or another.  Some are not in church at all anymore. Life happens.

As we stood from the ceremony to head over to the reception, I turned to see my wife speaking with some other old friends of ours.  What a wonderful couple this is – I hadn’t seen him in probably 8 years!  I smiled and walked toward them and as I approached him I realized something was very, very different… His cheeks sagged, his eyes drooped.  His movement was very uncertain and his speech was slowd.  How had I not heard that my old friend had had a stroke just 6 months ago?  Life happens.

My heart broke as I tried to keep a smile on my face in the initial conversation.  And I questioned God silently about why this man, of all people, would have to deal with such a terrible burden.  He served so faithfully for so many years.  He supported Michele & I when we were first getting started in ministry, and to this day he is one of the most faithful children’s ministry leaders I’ve ever known.  But as my friend talked, slowly and deliberately telling me his story, the forced smile on my face began to fill my heart.  It wasn’t supposed to be like this. No, he wasn’t supposed to be at this wedding, or talking to me, or even walking.  As he lay fully paralyzed for weeks after the stroke, he had no hope of regaining the life he’d enjoyed, of interacting with his four grown kids as he once did, or holding his first grandbaby due in May of this year. The doctors said so.  Life happens.

The doctors said so…but God said differently.  God spoke in various ways to my friend during those dismal days, and to his wife, and even to his kids.  The doctors were wrong, He said.  ”Life happens, but I am bigger than life” He said. And so with determination, the help of wonderful friends, a lot of work and I am quite sure many tears, my friend has set out to regain the life that he lost.  God is blessing him, and there he stood before me yesterday, a man who’d experienced life at its worst, yet reflecting what God can do…you might say reflecting that God happens, too.

Life happened to my friend, as it does to all of us.  He turned 60 this week, and is returning to work on Monday.  I shook my head as he sauntered off from the reception to head to his next physical therapy appointment, but I couldn’t help but smile.  My friend was not what he used to be, but he was also more than he ever was.

Life happens to all of us.  We have special days, as this was for my young friends getting married.  We pour ourselves out for what God calls us to do.  We see great victories and, sometimes, experience great defeats.  We share deep and lasting friendships, and sometimes those you trust the most betray you in the most shocking manner.  We laugh and we cry.  We raise our kids and love them through good and…not so good.  Sometimes our bodies break down, or we see the bodies of others break down.  We see the spectrum of life pass before us in a single afternoon sometimes, reminding us that Life happens. Occasionally, though, we have that moment when we see that life happened, but we also see that there is no other explanation than that God is bigger than life.  I am grateful to have seen my old friend yesterday and to experience one of those moments.  Life happens, yes, but God happens, too!