grief

Pastor and bestselling author Tony Evans announced his engagement to Carla Crummie on Sunday, four years after his first wife, Lois Evans, died.

Today is the only anniversary in American history known simply by a number. A few days ago, two more victims of the attack on the World Trade Center were identified through DNA technology. A total of 2,753 people were killed in the towers and planes, many of whom have yet to be identified. What are your emotions this morning? What would you like me to say on this hard day?

Let’s take a moment to reflect on three attributes of God that are especially relevant today.

Grammy-winning Christian artist TobyMac told concertgoers recently that the 2019 death of his son Truett briefly led him to stop reading his Bible.

The Apostle Paul gives us something to do at times like this: “Mourn with those who mourn.” This instruction matches the incarnational way that God, in Christ Jesus, interacted with His fallen world. He was with us. May God give strength to His people in Uvalde, Texas, to be the Church there.

In a culture that measures us by our appearance, possessions, performance, and popularity, it is terrifying to be known as we truly are. In Why Am I Afraid to Tell You Who I Am?, psychologist John Powell writes of “the imprisoning fears and self-doubt which cripple most of us and keep us from forward movement on the road to maturity, happiness, and true love.”

Grammy award-winning Christian artist TobyMac, or Kevin McKeehan, recently opened up about the grief he endured after losing his eldest son, Truett Foster McKeehan, from an accidental overdose in 2019.

In a recent interview, Theodore Melfi, the director of the new Netflix film The Starling, shared that the movie is meant to remind those grieving that there is hope at the end of the proverbial tunnel.

This is a critical reminder for church leaders that compassion should always precede action. Yes, there is a lot to do during COVID-19 to make sure everyone is physically and spiritually well. But we can’t neglect people’s experiences of pain.

One of the most-read articles ever on Harvard Business Review is an interview with David Kessler on the grief we are feeling in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The article describes Kessler as “the world’s foremost expert on grief.” 

He notes that “we’re feeling a number of different griefs. We feel the world has changed, and it has. We know this is temporary, but it doesn’t feel that way, and we realize things will be different. ... The loss of normalcy; the fear of economic toll; the loss of connection. This is hitting us and we’re grieving. Collectively. We are not used to this kind of collective grief in the air.”

“We never know when our time here will be over, so we all need to make the most of every minute we have,” the late basketball star Kobe Bryant wrote in a column right after 9/11.