But sometimes, saying goodbye is much more final. Today we had to accept that we had already said our final goodbye. Our very dear friend, Chaplain Jason Blake, died suddenly last night of a heart attack. He is not much older than us. We are trying to wrap our heads around it. We can't even begin to wrap our hearts around it.
Tonight as we prayed with a group of our "family" from MN, we asked God's protection and blessings for their ministries and for ours. Then we hugged and said goodbye. Sometimes, that protection is in the form of total restoration that only happens when the Lord brings us home to His eternal presence. In asking for God's will to be done I have to acknowledge that. In hugging tonight and saying goodbye, I had to agree in my heart that it may be until Heaven. We truly never know. Tonight, the reality of goodbye was a little more real and a little more painful. My heart aches at our loss as well as the loss for many others. Jason was a wonderful man who loved Jesus with all he was, and loved serving other people-especially his soldiers. You will be dearly missed friend. Our family is blessed to have called you friend!
Goodbye Jason. Goodbye friend.