No Photo for this

Words and no photos!
Monday August 31, 2009
I have on my dresser in Cape Town, a photo of my mother flanked on each side by my nephew and the son of a close family friend. It was taken on Easter Sunday, right after church at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.Everyone in the picture is smiling. Today that young man, the son of our friends is gone. He took his own life in a most, to us, unexpected way. His parents are plunged into the kind of grief that, perhaps, only other parents who have faced this can understand. To the outside word it seems that this young man had everything, but to him, life was no longer bearable and therefore not worth living. This news came just about the same time as that of the death of Ted Kennedy. As I watched the litany of Kennedy's accomplishments and so on, I could not help but contrast the two deaths, one after a live fully lived and the other, so brief, " a passing vapor" as it were. My own nephews were deeply affected but one of them encouraged the family to remember the love they shared and the love so many people have for them. Both deaths remind us to love those whom God has placed in our circle and beyond. For the young man's parents and for the extended family and friends, there is the inevitable question, why? We have no answers but yesterday in church I heard again the only answer I believe ultimately helps. It is found in Psalm 18:2, "My God is my rock in whom I take refuge"
This is true for life and for death! I pray his family finds refuge and strength in this.