We said good-bye to our son Jason
It was 22 years ago today that we received the phone call no parent wants to receive, “there’s been a terrible accident, I’m afraid your son did not make it.” Your world stops, it feels like somebody gut punched you, you cannot breathe, you can’t think, everything just becomes a blur. You try to repeat what you just heard to the person next to you but all it comes out as a guttural cry that no one can understand. Your mind starts processing everything at warp speed, but it still feels like slow-motion. Why, how, where, when, none of this makes sense. Many people would interject here why would God cause that to happen? That’s the one question I never ask, because I knew God didn’t cause this to happen, but God had his arms around my son when he took him to heaven. I’m not sure the initial shock ever wears off, but your mind tends to take on a personality of its own and gets you through all the details that have to be taken care of, as if you’re on remote control. One day you find yourself staring at a roomful of coffins and wonder if the quality of the coffin reflects how much you love your child. Doubting every decision you make concerning the arrangements you fall back on certain things you know to be true, for instance, there isn’t a coffin made in this world that could measure the love a parent has for a child. So sanity returns after your momentary lapse, and you continue to make arrangements for the temporary goodbye you will say to the empty vessel that once contained your loved one.
I cannot even imagine how any parent can lose a child and not know that they will see them again. God promises us eternal life through Jesus Christ his son, and all we have to do is accept this gift of salvation, no strings attached. I knew then, as well as I know now, that my son was a born-again Christian and I will see him again in glory. That is my handle on the sanity, and the certainty of this life. I have asked myself over the years how I can turn the tragedy of my son’s death into something good, and God answered me. Over the years I have had the opportunity to share the knowledge of God’s comfort, compassion, and being the healer of broken hearts with other grieving parents. I am not anyone special, many, many, parents have gone through similar tragedies, finding strength to get through it with the help of friends and families, but most of all to the loving comfort of our Heavenly Father.
Every parent thinks their child is the best thing since sliced bread and a box of cracker jacks, what makes him so special? Because he was yours, that is what made him so special! That is the same way that Jesus feels about each and every one of His children, we are so precious and special to Him that is why He was willing to die for us on Calvary.
As parents we do everything we can to raise our children to be good honest people. We try to equip them with everything that the world will throw at them, but sometimes the unexpected presents itself catching them unaware. The best thing we can ever do for our children is to raise them to be good solid Christians, guaranteeing their place in eternity, and us reuniting with them there.
We’ll Never Say Goodbye In Glory
by: John R. Rice
We’ll never say goodbye in glory,
in the morning, over yonder.
We’ll never say goodbye in glory,
we’ll never say goodbye up there!
We as authors, can never put on paper the actual emotions a parent goes through when they lose a child. What we do write is a poor imitation of the agony and pain that is uniquely attached to losing a child. But I can honestly say God heals our broken hearts, but there will always be a scar. This is written in honor of my son Jason Lewis Lambert.
But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
I Thessalonians 4:13-14
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
I John 3:2
But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.
II Samuel 12:23
But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
I Corinthians 2:9
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
I Corinthians 15:52
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
John 3:16
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
John 14:6