Yesterday I experienced two very different forms of loss. I never know quite how to deal with it, but it didn't really hit me until today what all happened yesterday.

This past weekend, my supervisor from the General Board of Global Ministries (the agency that hired me initially) came to visit me here in Albuquerque to make sure I was happy and doing all right. I brought her to work with me on Monday morning and all seemed well. That's when she got the phone call. Mark Masters, an Executive Director of the Board had passed away suddenly while visiting missionaries in Nepal. You can read the official GBGM obituary here. I can describe our feelings as nothing more than shock. As she made the calls to the other missionaries, my heart sank every time I heard her in the next room tell them that she had unfortunate news. Mark and his wife Kathleen were co-facilitators of our training in June and I know they really cared about us all. I keep having these flashes of memory from training, mostly of our final worship service together where Mark and Kathleen gave us candles to represent the light that we were taking out into the world. It was so touching to see both of them cry because they were so touched by us in the short time that we were together. Mark will surely be missed but he will live on in the memory of many people for years to come. Please be in prayer for his family during this time.

That afternoon, one of our residents chose to leave our program. She's been transitioning out for the past two weeks, but she finally turned her keys in yesterday. As Eddie and I watched her walk away with her two children following closely, I couldn't help but feel some pain and sadness. This time was very different from the last family we lost. This one has some more complicated situations and it just continues to break my heart. There is nothing that can be done to change the situation though, I just hope that she finds the help that she needs. It was surreal almost, standing in the doorway, watching the 5 year old push the 2 year olds stroller as they simply walked away. I wish I could fully understand the circumstances that made her leave, but it is nearly impossible. I just know that she and her family will be in my prayers, and that's all I can do.

There will be grieving certainly, for days to come over situations that we cannot control. I think Erich Fromm says a good thing about grief, "To spare oneself from grief at all cost can be achieved only at the price of total detachment, which excludes the ability to experience happiness." Grief is a necessary part of life.

With the bad comes the good, with desperation comes hope, in death, there is life beyond death.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 16, 2006 at 5:23 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.