Loss and Filling the Void

Thunderstorms are raging through western Michigan. I am so thankful to be holed up at the Spoelie's. How very grateful I am to these dear friends for their generous hospitality.

It is a good night to reflect on loss. Over dinner, I watched an ESPN special on the life of 49'ers linebacker Patrick Willis. It was a tear-jerker. Born impoverished in rural Tennessee, he was raised (sort of) by a drug-abusing father. At age 10 he was providing for his entire family (3 younger siblings). By 14 he was beginning to catch on to his dad using the funds he earned to buy drugs. By 17, upon seeing his dad hit his sister, he'd had enough. All four entered foster-care and were subsequently taken care of by Patrick's high school basketball coach. (A very "Blindside"-esque story, to be sure.) He comments that upon moving in with this family, he could, at 17 years of age, finally be a kid: security, peace, stability, confidence.

The part that got me was this (and I lost it here)--he could at this time finally not have to worry about brushing his teeth. You see, he wanted to brush his teeth. And he wanted to wear clean clothes. He had always been ashamed of his lack of personal hygiene (that he simply didn't have the means or guidance to do with regularity such mundane things as brushing his teeth!), so much so that he had never even been able to ask a girl out on a date. By 17 he had experienced every kind of loss. With his new family, he was finally able to have some of that void filled in.

Loss and filling the void.

I just started my doctoral program at Western Theological Seminary. It is a blessing to be around genuine, faithful fellow-pastors. We have been sharing stories of personal loss and the way such losses have affected our lives and ministries. It is a joy to hear these heart-wreching, vulnerable stories. The notion that pastors have it all together and are immune to loss (or feeling it in a way that everyone else does) is so completely false. Pastors are pipes and conduits who try (often unsuccessfully) to channel other's losses to God, while at the same time trying (often unsuccessfully) to deal with our own losses. Losses are dealt with and filled in again in myriad ways. Dealing with losses successfully (in other words, dealing with them at all) is a learned trick and work of God's grace. Invariably, as my cohort members share their stories of loss, each closes with a refrain of God somehow filling the void.

Loss and filling the void.

No one is exempt from loss. Many deny, adopt a "pick yourself up by the bootstraps" mentality, or curse God. Many certainly try to fill the void that losses leave in their wake--self-medication, finding "the god within" (or other such nonsense), nihilism, etc. The story of the Gospel is that God can and does fill the losses that we invariably experience with Himself.

Just as "in the beginning" God filled the void (creatio ex nihilo) with His word ("Let there be light..."), so too in these days God fills the void (a soul bereft) with His Word-made-flesh for us and for our salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Loss and filling the void.

In Christ, we are then charged with living out the Gospel for others. (Yeah, this is coming full-circle...back to the Patrick Willis story.) WOULD YOU HOLD FORTH CHRIST IN SUCH A WAY AS TO FILL THE VOID OF LOSS FOR OTHERS? Be a foster parent. Be a Safe Families for Children parent. Open your home to someone--sharing a meal, a bed, a cup of coffee. Live intentionally for others! Hearts are breaking and loss is experienced by (probably) every person you meet today. Consider even asking your neighbor, "How are you doing?" Consider asking the son who has recently lost a parent, "Tell me about your pain..." And pray like crazy.