This is what I shared today at Melissa's funeral. Praise God for the life of such a wonderful, beautiful friend.
What I Learned Growing up with Melissa
Melissa and I first met in kindergarten at Prien Lake in the French Immersion program. Growing up with Melissa lead to many adventures and life lessons - two of which I will share today.
The first was some time in high school when we were on my Dad's boat and sitting at the very front of it on the way back from tubing. It was a great afternoon until THE INCIDENT. We both saw it coming... a bird had flown overhead and decided it just couldn't hold it any longer.
We saw the bird droppings come from the sky and Melissa turned to me, almost robotically, looked me straight in the eye, and revealed that half of her face was now covered in the bird's lunch time remains.
Thus the first lesson came to surface - even the most seemingly perfect person has to deal with crap. So be kind, be respectful, and love one another through the messy stuff, the incredibly funny stuff, and the unexpected.
Second, rewind a few years to our fifth grade art class. We made landscape paintings on black paper using a tear dropped stamper. About halfway through mine, I declared that it was ugly and wanted to start over.
Melissa and Morgen Benglis told me to keep going. By the end of it Melissa said, "See, you always have a way of making things work out. You don't always know how to do it along the way, but the end turns out really cool." Eleven year old Melissa was so wise, right?
Those words are what linger with me now. "You don't always know how to do it along the way, but the end turns out really cool." As we cope with the great loss we are experiencing, we may not know how to process, to grieve, or to make sense of this new reality, but we have faith that the end turns out really cool.
In trying to find peace over the past week, I have found great comfort in the words of Paul who in Romans 8 declares that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ - neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And though we may feel separated from Christ right now, Christ will never separate from us, give up on us, stop grieving with us, or stop loving us.
Mr. Greg & Mrs. Rhonda, thank you for giving me one of the best friends I could have ever grown up with.
Rachael, thank you for being such a great role model, mentor, sister, and friend to such a special girl. We all know that half of Melissa's coolness actually came from you.
Ben, thank you for making Melissa such a beautiful bride, for being Melissa's adventure partner, soulmate, and deer meat supplier.
May God's peace and comfort surround you as we give thanks for the life of a beautiful soul and anxiously await the day we are reunited.
What I Learned Growing up with Melissa
Melissa and I first met in kindergarten at Prien Lake in the French Immersion program. Growing up with Melissa lead to many adventures and life lessons - two of which I will share today.
The first was some time in high school when we were on my Dad's boat and sitting at the very front of it on the way back from tubing. It was a great afternoon until THE INCIDENT. We both saw it coming... a bird had flown overhead and decided it just couldn't hold it any longer.
We saw the bird droppings come from the sky and Melissa turned to me, almost robotically, looked me straight in the eye, and revealed that half of her face was now covered in the bird's lunch time remains.
Thus the first lesson came to surface - even the most seemingly perfect person has to deal with crap. So be kind, be respectful, and love one another through the messy stuff, the incredibly funny stuff, and the unexpected.
Second, rewind a few years to our fifth grade art class. We made landscape paintings on black paper using a tear dropped stamper. About halfway through mine, I declared that it was ugly and wanted to start over.
Melissa and Morgen Benglis told me to keep going. By the end of it Melissa said, "See, you always have a way of making things work out. You don't always know how to do it along the way, but the end turns out really cool." Eleven year old Melissa was so wise, right?
Those words are what linger with me now. "You don't always know how to do it along the way, but the end turns out really cool." As we cope with the great loss we are experiencing, we may not know how to process, to grieve, or to make sense of this new reality, but we have faith that the end turns out really cool.
In trying to find peace over the past week, I have found great comfort in the words of Paul who in Romans 8 declares that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ - neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And though we may feel separated from Christ right now, Christ will never separate from us, give up on us, stop grieving with us, or stop loving us.
Mr. Greg & Mrs. Rhonda, thank you for giving me one of the best friends I could have ever grown up with.
Rachael, thank you for being such a great role model, mentor, sister, and friend to such a special girl. We all know that half of Melissa's coolness actually came from you.
Ben, thank you for making Melissa such a beautiful bride, for being Melissa's adventure partner, soulmate, and deer meat supplier.
May God's peace and comfort surround you as we give thanks for the life of a beautiful soul and anxiously await the day we are reunited.
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