Marveling at gift of grieving family

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/7164293.stm

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This is a short article about a 16 year old young man who was killed as a result of being struck by a car, while crossing a road, on Christmas Eve. He died in the hospital. His family issued a short statement that the above article quotes. In it the young man's family speaks of how he followed Jesus and loved God, and also remarked on his sense of humor.

People who are not faithful by nature sometimes do not appreciate the gift that a family like this is giving to others when they speak of their child's faith even as they have tragically lost him. So many people measure God's goodness by the length of life they have or the ease with which they pursue what they crave. So they do not understand people who love God even when they did not live a long and full life, receiving a pension and owning two homes.

Also, many parents writing about their child who passes use that space to talk about their love of life, their hipness and their many friends, but omit their relationship, if any, with God.

This family used their time of grief and space to publicly comment on their child to praise and remember his love of Jesus and following his way. This is a generous gift to the reader and should be appreciated as such. They could have written about how popular he was, what a good son he was, what sports or music he liked, but instead, even losing him during Christmas time, they magnify and highlight this young man's love and trust in Jesus. They are sharing a last gift from the young man, and from their reservoir of faith, for everyone else's benefit, not their own (their marvelous faith and example is its own reward and they can be assured of that). God bless and console them and may they look forward to seeing their young man, and Jesus, again in due time.