“Dan, please tell me you didn’t, you didn’t give the kids a spoon full of peanut butter dip in the sugarbowl?” Lynda says to her husband as he picks up the spoons from the table where we, the kids, set them when we were done.
“We leave you and Carl for just a few hours and you give the kids this?” But then she gave a smile, a wonderful smile, a smile I know too well and that only one person can give. On July 15st 2008 Ben Entwistle went to a place were no tear can brim the eye. I grew up with his family, going to their house almost every Sunday after church.We would read, play outside, play dress up, run around and be kids. The timing of Ben’s US funeral was perfect for me to go. I would fly to Atlanta and then ride with Andrew and Taylor to the funeral. Getting the tickets and meeting up worked out great. I flew to Atlanta and Andrew and my Uncle John picked me up. We ate lunch with the girls and then hung out till the concert. We went to see Andrew Peterson in concert. It was amazing. Weird though.. after about half of his concert he apologized, because he felt like he was playing all his songs that were about friends dying. No way… that is what I needed to hear. These were believers who had died and now were with the Lord in heaven.
We got up on Saturday morning at 6am and drove to NC. We got the funeral at about 1215 and there were tons of people there already. We sat down where they told us too. (there were so many people they were trying to pack as many people in as they could.) I sat by a family who I had never seen before in my life. I was still sporting the pink bracelet that I got down in Bay St. Louis, MS. The mother, leaned over to me and asked me when I had gone to Lagniappe. I was amazed. I stopped for a min before answer cause, how weird was that. I recovered and answered her question. We talked for a few minutes about what their group would be doing and the fun my group had. The families’ son was one of Ben’s roommates.
I have been to my share of funerals and I hate more then anything when people say… “o don’t cry, they have gone on to a better place and they are happier now” I hate that so much, cause yes I know that they are happy and in a better place but I still miss them and I want them back with me right here. This funeral was not like this, I had the freedom to cry through the whole thing. The service started and the whole thing was amazing. To be totally honest I don’t remember much of it. There was a slideshow of Ben and his life and I could see the pictures of when they lived here. I recognized their house and the sofa that was in their house here and the ages of the kids. The whole service was very good. We sang some song and there was a sermon. After the service was over the pastor had people stand from the different places that Ben had been. There were about 20 people from their mission work in Africa and RVA, there were about 20 to 25 kids from Covenant college and about 30 people from other places, plus peoplef rom their home town and home church and about four rows of family. After Dan and Lydia had left the service the pastor had the people who needed to leave right away and the people who had to drive a long way, go hug them first. I looked at Andrew and asked should we wait, he said yes. So we waited. We stood in a line for about an hour waiting to hug and speak to Dan and Lynda. We were standing in line with Tom and Kim Fox. We laughed and had some good conversations that helped make the line go fast and also the thought about seeing Dan and Lynda not as gloomy. We stepped in the room and saw them and hugged. It was nice to see them and be able to hug them. They looked so tired. They need our prayers. After seeing them I was done. Done for the day, I could not think, I could not function other then getting some food and then going to bed. We walked out of there and I felt better though, tired and sad, but better. I needed to go. I needed to see the family and hear the stories and be there for them, even in my small way.
We got in the car and drove about 40 minutes and stopped and ate at a steak house. We all ordered appetizers, and salads, and main dishes. Then we went and walked around a mall. We just walked and looked, not really talking, not even really thinking about what we had just been through. We decided not to drive the whole way back to Atlanta. We stopped and got a hotel and we all slept really well. We woke up on Sunday and drove back to Uncle Johns house. We ate lunch and then Andrew and Taylor left. At 415 Uncle John and Aunt Elaine took me to the airport. My flight went out at 744. It was delayed and went out at 844. I got home and was so glad to be there. I came right home and got in the bed.
These are my favorite lines from an Andrew Peterson song.
There is more
More than all this pain
More than all the falling down
And the getting up again
There is more
More than we can see
From our tiny vantage point
In this vast eternity
There is more
The title is “more” and it talks about how this is not the end, there is more. So in the future I will be with the whole family again. There is more than the pain of death and loss. In Glory we will hangout together again and eat more peanut butter and sugar,and then we won’t worry about what it is doing to ourcholesterol.
1 comment:
That's a nice story, and I enjoyed Andrew's entry too!
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