by Erich Bridges and Jerry Rankin
From Page 223
“ The pain is deep, the grief prolonged. We do not readily get over the abrupt loss of a colleague and a friend. The death of a son or daughter, husband, father or brother, wife, mother or sister, leaves an ache in the depth on one’s soul. The vibrant smile is gone; the hearty laugh is silent. The intimate sharing with a mentor and encourager has ceased. We cannot understand why one devoted to serving the Lord would have his or her ministry cut short or why the light of a testimony in a dark world would be extinguished.
Yes, we grieve. A missionary team feels a glaring gap when one of its members is no longer there. A family who has been accustomed to separation and only occasional fellowship during a periodic furlough, struggles with the reality that the loved one will not be coming home again. Our Lord identified with our grief in the loss of a friend, and we know that He identifies with us still. It is not incidental that His abiding presence in the person of the Holy Spirit would be identified as the ‘the Comforter’, the One who comes alongside us and brings peace to our troubled hearts and grace to minister to our need. "

In spite of our deep sense of loss, the Scriptures tell us, “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints” (Psalm 116:15). In some providential way, our loss becomes gain to the Kingdom of God. Each person in these memorial pages took a step of risk and obedience to God’s leading in their lives. That step always demonstrates an abandonment to God, a removal of all previous conditions we might have tried to impose. When a life is truly available then we can be sure that God will never squander his most precious belongings. When that live is invested into Eternity, even though it might seem untimely and premature, it will bear lasting fruit.
- Lynn Green