Father of comfort

• vs.3: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comforts,
• vs.4: who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.
• vs.5: For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.

In light of Bronner Burgess' death, my prayer is that we all focus on Christ & His comfort today. I imagine Bronner's Mommy seeing his body as I imagined Chase's Mom seeing her son's dead body last Jan. 25th 2007. Karen's Mom watched her daughter get bathed ( a real bath on her hospital bed) before her body was taken to the hospital. There are unlovely things that happen after someone's spirit leaves a body. Death appears chaotic & horrific & the after math is just plain hard. Praise God, with Christ only; it, death, experiencing the "body"; is beautiful, lovely, quite simply...Him.

The boys & I listened to Rick's message on air this morning---the message he shared at his son's funeral. It was tough. It was raw. It was Jesus. It was really profound, but simply about the love of Christ & His strength. I ache for this family & his wife even though I don't "know"them. I listened carefully & witnessed, as many did, how actually experiencing death (especially a shocking, gruesome one) puts this world into perspective. He spoke beautifully of Bronner & his personal struggle to get on the plane & make it to his dear wife. He shared how amazing it is to witness God's strength to get him through the the toughest season of his life. Without God, he wouldn't have been able to face Bronner's body or Sherry & his other sweet babies/ growing children. He also spoke about storing up eternal treasures & not worrying about the stuff we so wildly worry about daily like... allowing crayon messes on his office floor by Bronner would no longer frustrate him or finding our strength & identity in worldly accomplishments & what our kids can do. Rick's voice was one drenched in pain, but bathed in God's strength.

I looked back at Will & his head was bowed...he was praying. I say this & even share it humbly because his act of prayer was out of love. He does not know Rick & Bubba---he just thinks their jingle & their voices are funny. But, at 7, he got it. He listened to Rick & he hurt for them. He held Brooks' hand & said, "Oh, Mama, this could have been Brooks." I told him about Bronner having 4 siblings & to be praying for them b/c they'll miss their little brother like he would miss Brooks.

Simply, put, death around us does affect our actions & rock our world. Death like Bronner's & Hollywood's Heath Ledger, shakes us. Imagine it being your child, your brother, your dearly loved one. Jesus was God's little baby. Rick went on to say how awesome it was that God wanted Jesus back & how we, as Christians, have eternal hope & rest that we'll see our saved loved ones again. How sweet our Heavenly Father's plan is.

Tragedy hurts. Camp out in 2nd Corinthians & find & extend comfort. I have achy spots in my life over death & hearing God speak through Rick this morning was truly Jesus comforting so many hurting people.

Pray for Chase's family as they face his one year death anniversary this Friday. He was saved & their hope is bountiful, but pain is real. I pray they find comfort in Christ.