I'll be honest. I had googled the parents before. I was trying to see if there was any information on social media. Googled dad. Nothing. Googled mom. Nothing.
I was in the car during a trip several days later and decided to repeat my google search. Dad, well something but wasn't sure it was him.
Mom. Something. Wait. Is that a baptism testimony?
I looked closer. I read the story. I scrolled at the way to the bottom. I looked at the name of the church. Wait. Wait.
It looked semi-familiar. BUT I knew that MANY churches have the same name.
I decided to google something else. Sadly it was an obituary.
You see on March 17, 2018 our dear friends had lost their young son. It was a tragic situation. God knew. God had a plan. God had a purpose.
I pulled up the obituary of this little 6 year old. I scrolled down, looking to see where the service was.
There it was: SAME CHURCH, SAME CITY.
You see, we had been to this church when our friends married. We had been to this church to hear them share about their life. Unfortunately we were unable to attend the funeral at the church.
But it was THE church.
Let me back up to the day my son's teammate passed away. March 27. That afternoon I was a mess. I had received an email from our dear friends who are far away from us (literally across the world). I replied and told them I could not read their email right now. I said,
I’m trying to read through your email, but the tears in my eyes prevent me.
You know all too well what it’s like to walk the path that (my son's) classmate’s parents are walking on today. (My son) had a classmate pass away this morning. In his college dorm, just down the hall from him. (They) were friends from day one at college, both as classmates and teammates...
You know this painful walk of grief. And it is never easy.
I’ll read the rest of your email later, but just wanted to share. We continue to pray for you.
My dear friend replied a few days later that he would be praying.
It wasn't until a few days after that he would know he would be praying for a family that would walk the exact same journey he had walked IN THE EXACT same church!
We reached out to their family who lived in the area. (Ironically {read: God} we first met this family 21 years ago when my college student son was born!) They shared that they did not know the family of the college student who passed away, but they knew the pastor who would be doing the service.
How did God work?
He had our friend email us that day from across the world. I replied and asked him to pray and he had no idea the funeral would be in his home church.
He didn't allow me to make the connection until after the service at the college.
He extended the prayer circle to this family who we had known for 21 years.
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