It was a beautiful day, it was a terrible day.  It was a day of celebration, it was a day of mourning.  It was a day of great joy, it was a day of deepest grief.

There were two funerals in South Africa on Tuesday.  One was for a great man who had touched the lives of millions.  He had passed away at a ripe old age, having achieved in his lifetime what he had set out to do.  He died peacefully in his bed, surrounded by his loved ones.  And while we are all sad that he is now gone, Tuesday was marked by a spirit of celebration as we remembered a man the like of which comes around perhaps once in a generation, if we’re lucky.

The other funeral was for a mother and daughter who were violently ripped from this earth in a senseless accident on the highway.  Their deaths were sudden and unexpected, their lives incomplete.  There was no celebration at their funeral.  Instead, there was wailing and sobbing, and the daughter’s former colleagues singing hymns as the coffin descended into the Earth to remind her loved ones and themselves that God was there, even if it didn’t feel like He was.

I attended the other funeral.   Continue reading “A Tale of Two Funerals” →