Tonight is the night when we all gather in the church, to bade one last farewell to our friend. This friend whom we all know since 1994, and whose presence we all took for granted. His wife and him just got wedded last month and they were on their honeymoon in New Zealand, when the accident took them away from this material world. The newspapers were splashed with articles about their unfortunate demise, yet it still feels so unreal.
I was late for the memorial service which started after 7:30pm, and it ended about 2 hours later. Nice, emotion-filled service, which I thought was rather excessive in its preaching (at least 3 different pastors took turns glorifying the love of God!). But it was expected I guess, since it is not very often these days that you get a lot of young (non-Christian) people housed under the same roof, having their hearts broken by the losses. The opportuninty was too good to miss, I suspect, especially with the extensive local media coverage.
Although I do feel extremely sad at the loss of a friend, looking on the bright side of things, I do feel that it was a good thing they both departed together. The people who are left behind usually suffers the loss and feels it greatly. Only time will heal all pains. As I look upon the congregation of people, it dawned upon me that this was the testament to the man he was. As Willa Sibert Cather said:
The end is nothing; the road is all.
I think he will not be remembered for the way he died, but rather the way he lived, and that is one of the greatest achievements in life. Goodbye and rest in peace my friend, for you have lived well.
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