Skip to main content

Heaven Welcomed an Amazing Man Yesterday...

I'm sitting here right now, full of tears, thinking of a dear friend who went home to be with the Lord yesterday. If you know Eric, you are probably feeling much the same way. He fought the good fight with ALS, but at age 40 the horrible disease took him up to heaven. The fact that he's now in heaven, no longer in pain and laughing with Jesus is hard to imagine...yet a relief to know it's true. What stinks are the people left here on earth to live the rest of their lives without this amazing man. Particularly his wife and their two children. Their two young children. I think Zach is 13 and Maddie is 7 (or something close to that).

Even though Lori and the kids had plenty of time to know this was coming and to try to prepare themselves for this day, I'm sure the reality of it is just unbearable. I mean, even I was tossing and turning most of the night, trying to process this. Then this morning as soon as I sat in front of the computer and started reading more Facebook posts and the little note that Lori sent to the church prayer chain...the waterworks ensued. For a brief moment, it makes you mad. It's just not fair that things like this should happen to such amazing people. It's not fair that Maddie and Zach should have to have said goodbye to their Dad already, or that Lori is left without a husband. It's just not fair!

Yet, God knows. He knows it's not fair to have horrible things happen to someone you love dearly. He had to watch unthinkable things happen to His one and only Son. I mean, not just Jesus' crucifixion...but all the people who treated Him so horribly during his time here on earth (they mocked Him, spat on Him, plotted to kill Him, etc.). God had to endure it. And then on the cross, when Jesus had taken upon Himself all of our sins...Jesus, the perfect One. Then it was so unbearable, that God the Father had to look away. God Himself. So, yes, God knows.

Last night when I found out (from a Facebook post of a mutual friend) that Eric had died, I immediately went out and told Dave. Of course, he was just as shocked as me. What was so precious was that after I told Dave and then came back to sit in front of the computer, Hannah followed me in here. She came up to me with wet eyes and a gentleness in her voice, and she said, "Mommy, you're going to miss Eric, aren't you? And you might even cry about him being in heaven, won't you?". I was then able to take her in my arms and tell her how wonderful it was for Eric that he was in heaven now. He was no longer in any pain and he was probably running around with Jesus. I told her that we don't have to be sad for Eric. Eric is so lucky to be in heaven right now. But, I told her, we definitely need to pray for Lori and the kids because now they are the ones who are really going to miss Eric. They are going to need our prayers for peace and comfort for a long time to come. After that, Hannah asked a few more questions about heaven and about Eric dying. It was just a precious moment to see her process it all. A couple years ago, Luke had a little friend from school (also named Eric) die of leukemia. We all regularly talk about little Eric up in heaven running around with Jesus. Hannah now has two Eric's that she talks about being in heaven and being able to see someday. They both left an amazing legacy behind here on this earth. Both are greatly missed.

So as all of us who knew Eric continue to process his death...as we all continue to lift Lori and the kids (and the rest of his family) up in prayers...I'm comforted by this picture in my head. I'm picturing Eric in heaven with that amazing smile on his face and his exuberant personality, running around full speed taking in all the sights. Much like I remember Eric only a few short years ago here on this earth. It wasn't any fun the last couple of years to see what ALS took away from him. Oh, but what a joy it is to imagine him in heaven taking it all in with the same zest for life that he used to display here on earth. Heaven got quite the angel yesterday morning. Quite the angel indeed.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Saying Goodbye

Life is rather surreal right now. Hard to believe this moment is actually here: my Dad is dying. Even though his quality of life has been diminishing over the last year or so, it's still hard to grasp that we're actually in this place. Hospice care. Hospital bed in my parents' living room. Trying to figure out how to let him go. Just 10 days ago he was still walking to the bathroom. Eating. Taking his breathing treatments. Taking all his meds. Interacting with life.  Living the best version of his 85-year-old self. And seemingly overnight - things changed. It's like he just got tired of it all. He just didn't have the energy to do this one. more. year. When Mom and I walked into his hospital room on December 4th - he was angry. Agitated. "Done with this." And so, since then, we've been learning how to say Goodbye. Learning how to give him the best quality of life at home that he can have in the time he has left. Learning how to let him go. Husband

Getting Back On Track

Haven't written a post since November, and I'm kind of chuckling to myself as I read what that post was about. It was ALL about handling "busy." So how'd I do?? FAIL! This past school year was a real struggle for me. It was one of those years where I constantly questioned whether ANYTHING I was doing was right. Every aspect of my life felt out. of. control. Due to the level of busy and my introverted self never getting time to re-charge - my emotional eating kicked back into HIGH gear. My desire to exercise and eat right went out the window. And now, here I am. Trying to let go of the shame and the guilt and the depression and trying to get my health journey back on track. And so...I must write. Weight Loss is ALL in Your Head Yes, you read that right. I'm here to tell you with 100% confidence - you'll never lose weight if you don't have your head on straight. Never. Now, of course, the WAY in which we choose to lose weight is important. An

Cautiously Optimistic

2020 has been the year of EVERYTHING being cancelled. Am I right?  All the things we have been looking forward to since mid-March have not happened. So here we are, one week out from Thanksgiving & Luke's first basketball tournament...and all I can be is "cautiously optimistic" that things will go as planned. I can't really be excited. I mean, we were literally on the road heading towards his MAC Tournament game on March 12th when we found out the tournament had been cancelled. Every time we've gotten our hopes up that something was going to happen this year, it has been snatched away from us. So "cautiously optimistic" is the best I can do at this point. Luke called me yesterday to give me an update on some things, and I 100% expected him to tell me we were no longer allowed to attend. Thankfully, he didn't. He just shared that we aren't allowed to talk to him inside of the arena at any games this year. 'Cuz you know, talking to someone