This past Sunday, July 6, 2008 Pastor Scott Sparks talked about the importance of a lesson he learned years ago, and that is to run to Christ as quickly as possible when you’ve think that you may have caused any type of separation in your relationship with Him.     More pointedly though he reminded us of the importance in leading those that don’t know Christ as their Savior to Him as quickly as possible.    

Today has been a tough one.   I received news this morning that my friend Chris’s wife Wendy apparently took her own life yesterday.   They were soon coming up on their second wedding anniversary.   I’ll never forget the day he told me he had met this incredible “firecracker” of a girl.   You could see it in his eyes how smitten he was.   For weeks afterwards he was virtually useless around the worksite we were on.   He fell for Wendy fast and hard as they say.

Chris was around thirty yet had never been married.  Most of us thought he may never.   He had boats, and trucks and all sorts of toys – the things most bachelors use to entertain themselves with while they still have money.   Wendy was a former airline attendant who had been involved with a life threatening automobile accident.   After medical rehab she ended up in the childcare industry and that is when she met Chris.  Life was wonderfully blessed for them through this very romantic time and it was clearly evident in their happiness.

After a period of engagement they were married at a beautiful wedding chapel in the Great Smokey Mountains.  Before the reception ceremony was complete Wendy had a major seizure and was rushed to the hospital.   There was no honeymoon cruise as planned, only day after day of hospital test and reoccurring convulsions.  Trip after trip to specialist after specialist consumed the first few months of marriage.  After awhile Chris had to take a leave of absence from his job because of Wendy’s constant seizures and the need for him to take her to a clinic or hospital almost on a daily basis.

Their debt mounted quickly since she had lost her employment with the airlines after her car accident and was left without medical insurance.   The seizures started (the day of their wedding) and before Chris could add her to our company’s family plan.   The boat his savings account and all his other toys went away as they try dealing with the fact they were nearly a half-million dollars in debt in their first year of marriage, and neither one was able to work at the time.

One day Chris finally confessed to me how devastating mentally, physically, and emotionally all of this had been of him.  He was clearly at a breaking point.   I don’t know if anything I said made a difference but he continued to hang in there in this really tough time.  He couldn’t understand how the complete opposite of the happy marriage that he had dreamed of had feallen into his lap.  What was fair about this situation – “nothing” he said.

Finally a break through occurred and after so long and so much suffering Wendy’s doctors were able to find a medical resolution to the seizures.   The pieces of their life started to get put back together and Chris returned to work.   A few months went by last year and he told me about this small boy they had decided to adopt and give a loving home.   Once again you could see happiness in Chris’s eyes.  

A few weeks ago Chris and I were talking about how things were going and you could hear the pride and resolve in his tone when he talked about all that they had come through in the past two years.   Finally their life had a purpose and calmness that was so obviously absent this time last year.    Last weekend Chris, Wendy, and their son spent the holiday weekend at the lake with friends.   They talked about going in together with another couple and buying a houseboat to share.   Life was normal.  Not exciting, or glamorous – just "normal" finally.

Monday Wendy attended the funeral service of a friend of hers that had died way too young.   She listened to the sermon from the presiding pastor and there she gave her life to Christ as she told Chris when she returned home that night.   What actually took place in her heart and mind no one really knows for the next day (yesterday) she apparently took the rope that Chris had tied to a tree in their backyard as a swing for their adopted son, and she placed it over her neck and hung herself.   The ten year old boy was the one that found her there and called 911.

How do you understand such an event?  Where do you find answers to questions that Chris, their son, and their family have as to “why”?   How do you move on after such a tragic end to a marriage and life that has been shattered?    I know, and I’m sure you do also.  The answer comes in the form of Christ our Savior.  The same Savior that Wendy was seeking to find in her own life just a couple of day ago.

Please help me to pray for Chris and his son, and all of his and Wendy’s family in this time.   There is nothing that they need more today than the compassion and love that only our Lord can provide. 

  Run to Christ as quickly as possible.   

Thank you in advance for your prayers!   Doug