It was a beautiful service.
I've always known that he would have an exceptional turn out for his memorial. Always. It is kind of weird how many times I'd thought of that over the years, but it was because of the way he lived his life. I knew that one day a building would be full of people that he had impacted. And it was!
(I just never thought he would be 48!)
I remember telling him more than once that when he died, a whole lot of secrets would be buried with him. Not his secrets, but the private things that hurting people were constantly sharing with him, which was a burden and a blessing. They were things he never repeated.
When people met him, they felt safe and in 10 minutes or more, they were telling him their whole life story and that often included their secrets.
I cannot tell you how many people considered him their best friend.
Many.
He was amazing.
I never looked behind me during his service to see the crowd, but I was told that there were close to 400 people there! And almost that many came up and hugged each one of our family members. I'm told it took over an hour for those in that line to reach us but they stayed anyway. How sweet is that?!
So many precious people!
My hubby started a family worship band when our kids were young and we all used to practice on Tuesday nights. (which sometimes required brownies as bribery)
Those were often some frustrating practice sessions. Just picture four kids with instruments they barely knew how to play...
The active keyboardist especially had trouble stopping his playing to listen to Dad's instrutions. : )
And there were times when we may have told the little electric guitarist that he didn't actually need to be plugged in... LOL
The kids grew up and grew into their gifts and have often thanked their dad for giving them the gift of music. They all have and do use their gifts in our church and in other worship settings.
As you can imagine, I was so proud when they decided to play at the memorial!
their dad during this battle. (House of God by Jon Foreman) It is a rendition of Psalm 23 and we often heard him belting out the chorus in the house or the car..."Your love is enough." Amen!
And I had to look twice, during the service because I didn't know that Joy was going to sing one of the lead parts. No one will ever know how much that meant to him or our family! What a treasure that was! And she nailed it! : )
I guess, all that is to to say, it was a day that was as special as I always knew it would be!
~Becky
And my unending thanks to all who helped made it happen!
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