Diane's Story

A whole clan is mourning the passing of one of their own today. They are mourning Diane. 
It is perhaps more accurate to say that the grieving had started long before today, going back to that very day she was found with a cancer for which there was no cure. And the grieving will continue in the days, and months and years ahead. 
After a while, that raw, gaping wound that right now is ragged around the edges, will heal. 
After a while, it will somehow become a constant ache that will never go away. 

Like someone looking in through a glass I watched her story unfold. At the news of her imminent death, I had a rare moment of spiritual clarity: 
Diane's story is the Colincos' story, 
is the story of the church in this broken, messed-up world.
"Though He slay me, yet will I hope in Him."
"Though He slay Diane, yet will we hope in Him."
"Though He slay us, yet will we hope in Him."

Diane's story is an echo across the millennia of Job's story:
"The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. 
Blessed be the Name of the Lord!"

Diane's story is a collective story of her parents', sisters', brothers', nieces', nephews', friends' stories.

It is a story of a faith that cannot be shaken, built on the Rock of Ages.

It is a story that is always, will always be told with an undercurrent of hope, 
of hope that rings true because it is grounded on the truth of a resurrection.
It is a story of patience in affliction, 
Courage in battle, 
Endurance in adversity, 
Of sacrificial love. 
Of hope that never ends...

This, I learned, from Diane's story: 
when a member of Christ's body hurts, the whole body hurts. 
When a member of Christ's body suffers, the whole body suffers. 
And we are all carried by the strength of each other's prayers.

After  I have pounded my "why's?" at God's door, in a moment of exhausted silence I hear that still, still voice that grew louder ever louder--- Diane's solitary voice, joined by another voice, and still another, all these voices in a deafening swell, a majestic chorus: "Though He slay me, yet, will I hope in Him."

Diane's story will be told as part of a bigger, grander story that we are all a part of.

Diane's story is the Colinco's story, 
is the story of all of God's children 
in this broken, messed-up world, 
who, by patient endurance, 
unwavering  faith, 
unstoppable love,
unshakeable hope 
put all of God's enemies 
to shame. 

Hallelujah!!