Originally Posted by Rigsby
Hey Rudy,
That is an earry thought (that picture). Interesting.... I know that if you could do it all over again, you may do many things different. If you could have spent more time with Jay knowing that he would not be around in his 20's... you would have. You didn't know. It is said in the Bible that "there is no condemnation in Christ" therefore, my opinion is that you should not condemn yourself while you are greiving. Keep remembering what Jay would ask you to do while he is not here... I bet he knows you really miss him, but he wants you to live fully until you both are reunited. Keep your chin up.
dparker: I am sorry to hear about your son!! I lost a good friend that way... painful stuff. I am a father of two kids (they are young) & I often think of what I can do so they don't make the same mistakes I have made, or worse. Fact is, they are going to do what they do. It is the risk of being a parent I guess. We all seem to have some commonalities here on this forum... we all have a few skeletons, hardships, etc... but it is amazing how many here seem to believe in God. Anyways, you & Rudy are going through a parents worst nightmare. All I can say is that you are both great guys & even though I am younger than both of you & not seen what you have, I am very happy to see that you both have God in your families.
God Bless you both & keep praying... hopefully w/ the friendship here we all can help you pass some time & help each other survive this cold world we live in. Scooter
What I have learned thru all this and I'm sure Rudy has too, is that without my faith in God, friends and family I couldn't have made it. Just knowing that others genuinely care shows me Christ's love first hand and renews my faith that someday me and son will be together again as the bible tells us. A friend once asked me: if you open your door at midnight will it be daylight or dark? I responded: it will be dark. and then he asked my why. I responded: because everytime I've ever open my door at midnight its been dark. and he said yes and thats how faith is built, everytime you pray or see people showing Gods love, it reinforces that there is a God and thru him we do have eternal salvation.
A few weeks after my son died we were having a rough time going to church, it seemed every song was about him, it just hurt to much. To kinda show the impact my son had people around him, our church decided to have church that sunday in our front yard. Unbenounced to us over a hundred church members woke us up singing in our front yard, and our church uses drums and other instruments. It was unbelievable, as we listened and sang I watched hundreds of people walking up to see what was going on. Neighbors we had never seen or spoke with walked up and joined in. Probably 400 or so. As the service went on people were enquiring about why here, as the story passed around, people cried, people prayed, and people were saved. I tear up everytime I remember.
God is Great and so are his Followers. Thank you again and God Bless!!!