March 23, 2009, was a Monday, just like this year. It was the first day of Spring Break in my third year of university. It was the day I learned what it feels like to lose a friend. It was the day I learned that God is truly my refuge and strength, for he was a present help in my time of trouble.
Sarah was killed in a car accident on her way to be with her family for spring break. Over the weeks and months and years since Sarah's death, I have seen more and more clearly the hope we have in Jesus. He conquered death. He is the resurrection and the life. He is trustworthy, even when I'm feeling hopeless. He is God who raises the dead. Sarah was not snatched out of Jesus' hand, but welcomed into His loving embrace and at the last day she will receive a new body that can never get sick, grow old, or die. My friends, there is hope in the gospel. God will not leave us or forsake us, even when our loved ones or we ourselves die. It is not the end, and God is powerful to save to the uttermost. This is why I am in Bulgaria.
I miss Sarah. I miss the conversations we would have had about the struggles of being first year teachers, about the silly things our students did, about how music can communicate things beyond what we say, about how cool it is to see God working, about what we've learned in the Bible, about marriage, kids, art, and musicals, about grammar, sunburns and recipes.
I'm thankful for the time I had with Sarah, getting lost on our way to musicals in Tripp City, singing in the choir together at church, eating lunch together in college as she practiced directing and the strange looks people gave us as she waved her baton in the cafeteria, studying the Bible and talking about how loving Jesus influenced all of our lives.
Rivers and Sea Billows
Sarah