It’s a question I’ve asked myself several times in my lifetime, and one I spent the entire day mulling over in my mind, “How can things be the same, when they are so different?”
All day I’ve thought of Terry Greene and his family. I’ve remembered times and words and pictures. I’ve listened to others and felt their confusion and grief.
In Luke 24, two disciples are walking on the road to Emmaus. The crucifixion and death of the Messiah had happened. Oh, the tremendous grief they must have felt. I imagine the heaviness the two men experienced as they walked, probably remembering the times they’d followed Jesus down this very road. The miracles of healing they’d seen. The teaching, the promises, the vision for the future – all diminished with the pounding of the nails in His hands, the spear in His side, the crown of thorns on His head. What happened? Who was He? Nothing seemed real and all that they had believed did not hold up any longer. Each step brought painful mourning and sorrow. The man they believed to be their King was dead.
A stranger joined them. He was the risen Christ but they didn’t recognize Him or realize He was there. “15 As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; 16 but they were kept from recognizing him.”
There are times that we are those travelers, wondering if God is real, wondering if what we learned to be true actually is true, or possibly just not recognizing His presence when we ought to!
So many of us are walking that path now. A friend, physician, community leader, father, husband, brother, and son is dead long before he should be. His home is taped with yellow police barriers and all that was is no more. Anne and I have known each other since I first moved to Habersham County some 20 years ago. Terry was my daddy’s doctor and has been for years. And just as life can be, our community has been turned upside down in a moment’s time.
Although tough to recognize, we’re walking that same road to Emmaus, wondering how it all happened. Wondering where we can go to pick up the pieces of life. And whether we realize it or not, He is right beside us. God is in grief, not necessarily because He caused it, but because He is there to comfort us; to carry us through it; to hold us up with His righteous right hand.
There are times when darkness is consuming. Times when the journey is not one we want to walk; but He is always beside us.
I’ve often heard it said, it doesn’t really matter when you are born or even when you die, what matters is the dash in between. Dr. Terry Greene made his dash count.
Now Habersham wishes to extend our heartfelt sympathy for all Dr. Greene’s family and friends, for the community in which he served, and the many patients he dedicated his life to helping.
