We are remembering Michael very especially on 23 January

Faithful One, so unchanging, Ageless One, You're my Rock of peace,
Lord of all, I depend on You, I call out to You again and again.
You are my Rock in times of trouble.
You lift me up when I fall down.
All through the storm Your love is the anchor,
My Hope is in You alone.

So loved by us, sisters, brothers-in law, family and his friends.
Today we remember again..........
Michael, Isabelle, Josie and Evie visited with us - and we were wishing Jason and Liesl, Joshua and Jesse were not far away in South Africa.
Gordon read the story of the prodigal son - which was the passage from which Neville preached at Michael's Memorial Service.
After that service we went to King's Beach - surfer friends formed a circle with boards beyond the waves and put down roses in the sea for Michael.  The girls wrote his name in the sand.  The next day our family and Karl, Michael's buddy, drove to Jeffreys Bay before dawn.  Jason and Karl paddled in past really quite big waves and there scattered Michael's ashes with more red roses.  We watched from the beach.
Printed on Michael's Memorial Service bulletin is:  "Passed from death to life" - and it is NOT a misprint - it is a glorious, glorious reality.  We try to remember this when we just want him back with us.

Here are some photos from not too many years ago:  Our Michael.  Love is stronger than death - we still love him!  Even though he looks healthy and happy here - nothing can be compared to the bliss in the fully revealed presence of God.  We can only imagine - those who have died (physically) in Jesus  know first-hand.


Not the best visuals, but the audio and the words are important - and was one of the DVD cuts played at Michael's service while all in the church listened.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHI_HGVtasY&feature=related

We give thanks to our heavenly Father for the wonderful gift of Michael He granted us all.

Michael wrote some songs himself and always loved singing - from the time

he sang in his little boy's soprano solo's.

Michael sang a song to his friends in the pub - "I know I will see your face again"

just before he left SA for UK after the really bad news.

There are so many stories!

We have never seen anyone making for the waves, jumping off the rocks, paddling in with

as much enthusiasm as Michael!

Playing frisbee - after having had to come out of the sea becuase of a shark-warning

Plettenberg Bay - shortly after this there was a shark-scare!

Can you hunt the prey for the lion?

One of our fun-discoveries in the UK has been "The Pub-Quiz".  Gordon and I have been to a memorable pub-quiz in Glasgow: much more entertaining  than a list of questions answered by groups of people in an endearing accent!  Just as entertaining is the traditional quiz at our Christmas church parties in Surrey and Knebworth, Hertfordshire.  For most of the answers you need to have life-long local knowledge, so Gordon and I just play and laugh along ignorant of many of the answers!  We rely on our accents and know it is not an IQ-test - and even if it is:  our self-esteem, thankfully, does not hinge on our brilliancy - or lack of it!  Here we go again:  grace, grace, grace - how else!?

Well!  Towards the end of the book of Job, we find the mother of all quizes:  God tells Job to brace himself like a man and see how he does with HIS 64 questions.   Category:  science and nature.

One of God's 64 questions: 
 "Can you hunt the prey for the lion?"

To help us along in considering God's question, here is a video clip on hunting lions:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkZ8kOMWTdI

 "Can you hunt the prey for the lion?"

Job's response in Job 42:

• Job is in awe of God's sovereignty

Verse 2 "I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted."

• Job admits his lack of information and understanding:

Verse 3 "Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know."

• Job's personal encounter with His God

Verse 5 "My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you"

• Job repents - easily to take this verse out of context!   The rest of Job makes sense to Job's repentance - and ours!

Verse 6 "Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes."

As we are now only days away from the 4th anniversary of our Michael's (physical) death, we remember our lovely son and brother and  friend, with sore and yearning hearts.  What an incredible gap Michael has left in our lives!

And....at the same time, we are:
1) resting in God's sovereign purposes and most wonderful promises,
2) recognising that we have only part of the picture of our LORD'S ways and plans.
   No, I cannot hunt the prey for the lion!!   It is clear that we have not - by a far shot - adequate    understanding. 

When we are truly face to face with God, there is no ways we can charge and challenge Him about Michael's suffering with cancer and  death shortly after his 27th birthday. 

We humbly thank our sovereign and compassionate God:
That He allows - even invites - us to reason and ask questions. 
For that  total and experienced security in His sovereignty
For lots of space to mourn and weep. 
For those family and friends who understand.
For God's own complete understanding of our unique loss, having suffered incomparably Himself. 

We are always so acutely aware that suffering is wide-spread - you may very well be reading this as a suffering one...we hug one another and, hopefully,  go after Job's response together.  Our almighty God is our Refuge and  Comforter - a thousand times and infinitely more, worthy of our trust! 

So much for those neatly listed stages of grieving.

My friend's email on her recent loss sparked this off:
Many have rightly said grieving is hard work… we could add:

"So much for those neatly listed stages of grieving!"

Of course book-information spares us the surprise and dismay at our own shock and denial, anger, etc etc. It is equally true that these stages don't arrive on our journey  in a neat, predicted order. CS Lewis was surprised by joy – but  pilgrims are sometimes surprised, even startled,  by an unexpected grief-stage.  We were/are!!

No sooner have we more or less returned to outward normality, and then - bang! - added to the yearning, an overwhelming longing to have the loved person back - and have them back NOW.  We jump backwards and forwards through the different stages of grieving, unplanned.  Sometimes we feel and think that  people haven’t got a clue and have forgotten all about the one we can’t stop thinking about. Other times we don’t even understand ourselves! Or we don’t know if we should be stricter with ourselves or “softer”.   But, you know, there is Compassionate Comforter, just and sovereign and so gracious, who knows and understands100% - His name is Jesus.  And, oh wow! – what comfort and security in being known and understood:

1 Cor 13:12 “…Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, EVEN AS I HAVE BEEN KNOWN FULLY.”