Randall Trout, my wife Shannon’s younger brother, passed away yesterday. He was 47. Randall struggled with health issues for the past decade, his life full of pain and medications. Since he lived in Scottsdale (AZ), we didn’t get to see him often. He had a relationship with Jesus, but his physical pain prompted many questions about God. My family is grieving this tragic loss. Shannon leaves early Sunday morning to meet her parents in Scottsdale.
Since I have syllabi to work on and writing projects to focus on, I still went to work this morning. I got nothing done. I spent long periods of time staring out my window. For someone who frequently teaches the Psalms of lament, I know surprisingly little about mourning. Writing this blog post is the only thing I’ll accomplish today.
God, be with us, particularly with Shannon and her parents.
My son Nathan leaves early Saturday (tomorrow) for a 10-day missions trip to Haiti. He joins 8 other high school-ers from our church (Calvary Church of Souderton) to work at an orphanage just outside Port-au-Prince (see Map). While I’m excited about this opportunity for him to depend upon God and see what God is doing among the poorest of the poor, I am devastated to be separated from him for two weeks. I leave to teach a two-week intensive course (Genesis) for Fuller Seminary on June 30, and he returns from Haiti on July 1, so I won’t see him again until July 6. Yeah, I know, “Get over it” but since we’ve moved a lot, it’s made our family close, and we don’t like to be apart. Noah and I will hold down the fort.
God, bless Nathan’s efforts to bless Haitian orphans and teach me how to be a good long-distance father.
While we’re in CA, it will be good to see my brother and his family in the Pasadena area, Shannon’s parents in Orange County, and friends in the SF Bay Area. Besides teaching for Fuller, I’ll be speaking and teaching at 3 churches while in CA (see Speaking schedule).
Image from Wikipedia, “Haiti”.