Yesterday I heard from a friend, Sandy, to whom I speak three or four times a year. I met her husband, Mike, when he was my oldest daughter’s soccer coach. Sandy and I became better friends when we attended a group together for several years. Well yesterday she called me to tell me that Mike died about a month ago from a freaky illness.
I can’t tell you how taken back I was by this news. Mike was a wonderful man, a dedicated husband, and a devoted father to two children (15 and 13). In the flash of an eye he was gone. I am not doubting God’s providence, but I am struck by just how quickly life can change. We experienced this with the death of our stillborn daughter Mary nearly four years ago. Our life will never be the same. However, the loss of a father and husband must leave an even bigger hole in the life of a family.
So today, I look on my husband, Len, with even greater love and appreciation for all his love and devotion as a husband and a father. And I thank God for Len’s presence in my life for another day.
I ask you to pray for the soul of Mike Menken and for his family as they grieve.
I am so sorry to hear about this terrible loss. I’ve found it important to keep in mind that these tragedies are not from the hand or plan of God, but the result of the fall. Jesus conquered the consequence of our fall (death) and while we still endure it, the great mercy is that He meets us within it and leads us to Life. The real sadness is that we have caused this tragedy. The saints saw the reality that they were responsible for the evil in the world (death being the greatest of evils) because they had the humility to realize that if our first parents hadn’t sinned, they would have been the ones to do so. So they shed tears for the world and in grace bore the burden of our sins as well.
And that, my dear one, is what your tears are doing for your friend. You have quite a gift for bearing other’s burdens and lifting them up when they are struggling. Ask me how I know!
Prayers for Mike and those who mourn his passing. In Christ, death no longer separates us. May his memory be eternal.
Hugs to you,
Katherine