Did you know?

on a bright morning,

in a crowded commons,

with voices rising above,

on a fall day in October,

with the world turing around us,

with time slipping slowly,

I turn.

I look into your eyes.

I remember.

Do you?

Did you know we met before?

Years ago, in the midst of

a busy, ministry season,

You came.

You asked.

You volunteered.

It was preschoolers that you liked best,

maybe it was because your own children were

that age.

We chatted and we agreed.

With busy schedules, you gave what little you had,

you came to help with the kids.

For a time.

A brief season.

Not too long and then you left.

Now we meet again.

Did you know that it would be entirely different circumstances?

When your world would be falling a part?

And the loss cutting so deep?

Did you know Him that can hold you and carry you

and sustain you through the blackest of nights?

You've been busy, the kids have grown, and yet today we honor and remember and celebrate and grieve the loss of your son.

Had you known this is how we'd meet again, would it have made a difference?

I think about it.

I wonder about the now and the forever.

I am challenged to consider today's actions tie into a string of events that impact the new and the next insisting it all means something, believing we are all connected.