A Day I Will Never Forget
April 16, 2016. The worst day of my life. It was a cool, crisp Saturday morning. At the time, I was stationed at Naval Air Station Willow Grove just outside of Philadelphia. My wife had gone to work and I was at home with my young son. Out of the blue I received a phone call that I never thought I would ever receive. You see, I was what was called a Casualty Assurance Calls Officer. You know those guys in the movies that knock on doors and tell loved ones the worst news that someone could ever receive; the news that their son or daughter had died. Ironically, I had just returned the night before from a Casualty Conference at Headquarters Marine Corps in Quantico, Virginia.
The news knocked the wind out of me. Even though I had been “trained” to do what I was about to do, I was not ready. No one could ever really be ready for this. I ran around the house trying to get my uniform on, all the while trying to find a last-minute babysitter to watch my son. Luckily one of my coworkers lived only a mile away. I dropped my son off and headed to my wife’s work before reporting to the Squadron Headquarters Office to get the information I would need. I arrived at my wife’s work, and by this time she already knew why I was coming in. She took me into a side office and I cried. At this point in our marriage we had known each other for about 10 years. This was the first time I had ever cried in front of her.
I went on in to work, learned of the situation that had happened and coordinated the events that were about to occur with the other members of my team. We all headed off to the house of the unsuspecting parents. When we arrived I could see that they had just gotten home, the trunk of their car was open with groceries inside. But we were taught, never, never, never give the news until you are in the house. About that time the mother and father came around the front, saw me standing there in my uniform, said, “Oh my son is a Marine….” And that’s all it took. The look in their eyes changed immediately. They knew exactly what I was there to do.
The rest of the events that occurred aren’t important to this story, but those events ever changed the lives of so many people, including my own.
God’s Son
Those unsuspecting parents never knew what was coming. Now imagine this. God knew, from the beginning of time, that one day he would send his son to Earth to die on a cross. We all think of Heaven as a happy place, with no sadness to speak of. But can you honestly tell me, that even though God knew and knows how it will all turn out, it still didn’t destroy him.
Why does it upset us when we see and hear the descriptions of the pain and suffering that Christ went through on that last day? It’s because we are human, and it’s because we can’t stand to see how our Savior was mistreated. But here’s the thing, and it wasn’t until recently that I realized this. All the abuse, the crown of thorns, the carrying of the cross, the nails DRIVEN through his hands and feet……was a happy ending. The plan that God had put in effect forever ago was coming to pass. And it was coming to pass so that we may have eternal life. The suffering and pain that Jesus went through…..was all for us.
God loved us so much that he sent his only Son to die for us. Paul says in Romans, ” For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:37-39.) So as horrible it must have been for God and for Jesus, they knew all along that these events must transpire and it was all for the good.
The Aftermath
Months later when my time with this family was drawing to an end, my Commanding Officer called me into his office. He gave me a letter that the father had written him, which was presented to me. He told my Commanding Officer that his son would have been proud to serve with me, that I conducted myself in a professional manner, and that it was an honor to have gone through this tragedy with me. Still to this day its hard to understand that. I destroyed their lives, or so I thought. But it’s not always about what we see, and it’s not always about us. Looking back I believe I was chosen, I was placed in that family’s life for a reason. I was an integral part of an age-old plan to comfort them in their time of need. So when you are having you “worst day ever,” try to put things in perspective and know that it is God who has put you there, and God has put you there for a reason.
Tetelestai 