heaven...a time to be born, and a time to die...a time to weep, a time
to laugh, a time to mourn, and a time to dance." Ecc. 3:1,2,4
Today saw a lot of tears. I wish that I could poetically tell you
about life, but I'm finding out that there's a lot of things that just
aren't beautiful or poetic about this life. Today was one of those
un-poetic days for us here in Tchad. This morning Dr. James Appel's 6
month old son Adam died from malaria. It was so unexpected, because he
was doing better when he first went on quinine, but on his second round
of quinine, it was too much for his little body and he seized and died.
This whole day felt as though everything here should stop. I would look
at people carrying on with life and just want them to stop and see what
happened, and cry with us. But death happens here all the time, it's a
part of life, so why should everyone stop for this? But everyone around
us did stop and feel the pain that the day had brought. I just saw a
happy boy eating yesterday, and today I saw Sarah holding his lifeless
little body. They canceled church here, and all the people came and sat
in a circle chanting all morning, while people went in and saw the baby
and James and trying to comfort him. We had a lunch and prepared the
English part of the funeral, which consisted of verses and songs that
James and Sarah wanted to have, and than Jonathan had a little talk
prepared. Gary and Wendy flew in from a different part of Tchad,
because a few years ago they went through the same thing when they lost
their son Caleb to malaria, so they came to share in the pain of this
loss. During the service they sat right in front of me, holding this
little bundle that had brought them so much joy, and now their hearts
were filled with pain. She held him and stroked his face as though he
was still alive, and as she looked on his little face hers was filled
with tears. While James held Sarah, Gary and Wendy were right there to
comfort and mourn with them. The Tchadians continued with chanting
until they placed him in his little blue casket and put him in the
ground. Part of me felt a bit of anger at the people, why couldn't they
just let us sing our songs that we actually understood, and let us feel
how we know how to feel, instead of chanting and such. The service
ended with the sun setting, such a beautiful ending to such a broken
day. A day so numbing, and so long, but so short. The longer I try
living on this earth the more I see that life is so short, and that sin
is so real, but God is so powerful! He tell is in Isaiah 25:8 that "He
will swallow up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears
from all faces; the rebuke of His people he will take away from all the
earth; for the Lord has spoken." I ask that you guys keep James and
Sarah in your prayers, and the work that God has here for them. I know
some of you reading this might ask why he would even bring his babies
here to Tchad, but God has called each of us, and for some, following
God comes with great sacrifice and loss, but the reward is even greater
than any loss we experience here on this earth. I pray that we are all
able to follow Christ, no matter what the cost.
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