The Valley of Vision

My life experience has been that my best spiritual times are when really hard things happen in my life. There is a clarity that exists deep in my soul when bad things are happening around me.

This past week has been another example of such a time with the passing of our dear neighbor and friend, Dan Murphy.

Much has been rattling around in my mind as I cannot seem to shake almost constant thoughts of Murph. I have cried a lot, hugged lots of people, and watched some incredible people cope with a very difficult loss. One friend wrote me that she is having a really hard time wrapping her mind around Daniel's passing. I share her sentiments.

Something I will never forget is the sense of community I have experienced since I heard the terrible news Saturday night. Here are a couple examples:

First, the Murphys are part of the Gesu Catholic Church in University Heights. Gesu is a robust parish and we have benefited greatly from living in its boundaries. This past week, the Gesu community has experienced not only Daniel's death, but also a young mother was tragically killed in an auto wreck last week. And, a John Carroll student recently committed suicide. All three losses hit many of the same families. Many Gesu families visited the Murphys on Sunday, many of whom were also stopping by the other two grieving homes.

Additionally, Dan's parents Paul and Marcia both come from large families. It has been so encouraging to see siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews, and grandparents hustle to town to surround the Murphy family.

Second, we attend Parkside Church in Chagrin Falls. We asked that our church pray for the Murphys and found out that many other churches were praying, as well. I felt a wonderful sense of unity in Cleveland's faith community as people learned of Daniel's passing.

Third, Daniel and my son, Jackson, were very close friends and they were both classmates at St. Ignatius High School in downtown Cleveland. It's very hard to describe St. Ignatius. I am not Catholic and fundamentally I approach my relationship with Christ in a very diffent way than my Catholic friends. With that said, I have been profoundly moved, inspired, and encouraged by the Ignatius community, namely all the wonderful boys that my son has the privilege of knowing. Ignatius is a special place. Ignatius boys are special boys. I could name scores of young men that have been rallying together as they mourn and grieve Daniel's passing.

Two things have come to mind that I wanted to put in my blog entry regarding Daniel.

First, I have experienced considerable pain and sorrow and a tremendous sense of loss this week. I hurt mostly for Paul and Marcia, and I also hurt deep within my soul. I thought of the first question in The Heidelberg Catechism and found this very helpful:

QUESTION 1: What is your only comfort, in life and in death?

ANSWER: That I belong - body and soul, in life and in death - not to myself but to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ, who at the cost of His own blood has fully paid for all my sins and has completely freed me from the dominion of the devil; that He protects me so well that without the will of my Father in heaven not a hair can fall from my head; indeed, that everything must fit His purpose for my salvation. Therefore, by His Holy Spirit, he also assures me of eternal life, and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to love for Him.
I have experienced real community this week.

A second item I wanted to share was a wonderful poem that I have been reading daily for quite some time:

THE VALLEY OF VISION

LORD, HIGH AND HOLY, MEEK AND LOWLY,

Thou hast brought me to the valley of vision,
where I live in the depths but see thee
in the heights;
hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold thy glory.

Let me learn by paradox
that the way down is the way up,
that to be low is to be high,
that the broken heart is the healed heart,
that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,
that the repenting soul is the victorious soul,
that to have nothing is to possess all,
that to bear the cross is to wear the crown,
that to give is to receive,
that the valley is the place of vision.

Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from
deepest wells,
and the deeper the wells the brighter
thy stars shine;
Let me find thy light in my darkness,
thy life in my death,
thy joy in my sorrow,
thy grace in my sin,
thy riches in my poverty,
thy glory in my valley.

Join me in continuing to pray for Paul, Marcia, Julia and Elizabeth Murphy, their extended families and their friends.