For Taylor

Everything changes in a moment. What was “is now”, is now was. What has become now, is. What will be, will be “what now is”, when the “what now is” becomes the was. I don’t mean for that to be complicated but sometimes life is. I am always working on thoughts I write about. It is Christmas time and folks are making plans for celebrations and rejoicing.

 That part is not complicated. Anyone can celebrate the birth of Jesus, but only those who know Him as their personal Savior can rejoice in His coming and dying and rising from the dead for them. We rejoice because it is personal. A few minutes ago I was working on rewriting a special piece I was requested to do for Christmas eve and also making my way through what was going to be today’s Ripples post.

That “is”, now is “was”. Everything changes in a moment. Last night in a moment life changed. A few moments ago my son sent this email to an account I rarely check anymore. For weeks at a time I ignore it. I checked it four minutes after he sent this email:

 Last night, we lost a 7 year old grand niece, and friend to our daughters, Taylor, in a tragic accident three feet from her driveway. Please pray for our nephew and his wife, Doug and Robbi, as they and their two oldest girls try to find a way to get through this Christmas without their baby girl.
She had accepted Jesus as her lord and savior this past summer at a church camp in Birmingham. She is safe in His arms.

 This is now. It is the “will be” that was, when what “is was”, was “now”. It seems complicated. My granddaughters have once more been introduced to tragedy and understandings of life we would like to be beyond their years. Life is complicated. And it is simple. Taylor had parents who loved Jesus and loved her enough to instill and promote the relationship with Him which they can now take such comfort in. They simply loved Jesus. They simply loved Taylor. They sorrow in anguish and heartache that can only be understood by those who have experienced it. Like their Father in Heaven who watched His Son die. They rejoice in knowing she is spending her first Christmas in the arms of Jesus. They prepared her through years of dedication and prayer and example and trusting so that they might rejoice.

 And they did. They rejoiced at her salvation just as they had rejoiced at her birth. She was theirs and so they could rejoice in the sweet blessing the Lord had bestowed on them. Others celebrated with them, but they rejoiced. Then she was his and they could rejoice. Now they sorrow in her absence from them and rejoice in her presence with Him. It’s complicated. How will they rejoice in the celebration of the birth of their Savior while crying out for the comfort only He can give in the loss of their daughter? How do they show their two older daughters that this same Jesus loves them and keeps their feelings close to His heart? It’s complicated.

 And it is simple. It is simply that they Made Plans to Rejoice. We are not able to rejoice in the events of others. We can celebrate with them. We joyfully celebrate remembrances of circumstances and events and it is right for us to do so. But in order to rejoice we must have made plans for the event to be personal.

My grandchildren’s parents rejoiced at their births as the fulfillment of God’s promise to them. I rejoiced at the salvation I received when I accepted Jesus as my savior, just as each of my children have; Just as Taylor did. This year most of you will celebrate Christmas as the remembrance of the birth of Jesus the Christ. Many of you will rejoice in remembering that He came into our world and grew up to die on the cross as payment for the penalty of our sins. You rejoice because you acknowledged what He did and that He did it for you when you received Him as your Savior. In His salvation, you rejoice. Those who have never asked Him for salvation need to be making plans to rejoice. Without making those plans and carrying them out, just as Taylor did, you will not be rejoicing; you will be in great sorrow and torment forever wondering why you did not make plans to rejoice.

 If you can rejoice in your salvation then I ask you to pray for the comfort and peace of Taylor’s family, of my son’s family. If you can only celebrate Christmas as the birthday of Jesus because you have never asked Him to forgive your sins and give you the gift of His salvation, then I ask that you would do that now. I can think of little else that could do more to make this complicated situation more simple than for me to be able to share with this family that someone made plans to rejoice after reading this. It only takes a moment to ask Him for salvation. Everything changes in a moment.
SMHG John