He Talks With Us

I found that Ben’s parents feel very comfortable around me. They remember me as a special friend of Ben’s who helped him mourn his brother. I approached both and we kind of skipped through the “so how’s work?” “where are you living now?” small talk. We went straight to the “here is what is going on in our lives and this is how we're feeling” meaningful discussions. Ben’s dad, I’m not going to lie….isn’t doing so well. I don’t know if he ever will. He feels so lost and empty. We talked for quite awhile about his sons and his marriage. Please, say a little prayer for him after you read this sentence.

I also spoke to Ben’s mom, Sharon. She is a deeply faithful, Christian woman who is married to a pastor, Ben’s step-father. We shared some cute little stories and I told her how much glory Ben and the entire family bring to the Lord by continuing to have faith. Her eyes got a little misty and she said, “Can I tell you something?” I nodded eagerly. “Well…when Stevie called me and said, ‘mom, they couldn’t save him! They couldn’t save him! He’s gone…’ I didn’t quite understand. It took me a few weeks before I really felt the loss. I was in the middle of a grocery store and just started sobbing, right there in the aisle. I cried for my loss but I also cried not really knowing where Simeon had stood in his beliefs of Christ. Where was my baby? I arrived home and Richard said, ‘hon, come into the living room. I want you to hear a song I just wrote for Simeon.’ As he played the song on the piano, I listened and cried at the beauty of the song. It was made up of different little verses in the Bible and the chorus was mainly ‘be still and know that I am God.’ Later in the day, I decided to go through some boxes and I found one full of arts and crafts the kids had made years ago. I came across this little piece of birch, rolled up with a string tied around it. Carefully, I unrolled it trying not to break the frail bark. In Simeon’s 7-year-old handwriting were the written words ‘be still and know that I am God.’ God was really trying to make a point to me. He has everything under control and he has my son, Simeon.”

I smiled in response to her story. “He really does talk to us. We just have to listen.”