Alive!

Have you ever seen someone you thought had passed away?  I have recently and it was such a strange feeling.

The lady I thought had passed away was someone I only saw once or twice a year at our Bible camp.  She didn't come this year and the lady who I thought was her sister told me that her sister had passed away.  I told her I was sorry for her loss and remembered things about the lady in the past - her talking about her children and grandchildren, and having fun with the ladies' group at camp each year.  The bad thing is that I never knew her name.  I meet so many people at camp and other places that I can't keep up with all of the names.  I remember faces well, but not names.

Well, in November I was at a nearby town shopping at Sam's Club in Lawton, and I saw this woman that I thought had passed away.  I was in such shock that she was alive, but also that apparently she wasn't the sister of the other lady like I thought she was.  Another thing is that if she was shopping at Sam's in Lawton, then most likely she wasn't from where I thought she was from - about 2 hours east of there!  I didn't come face to face with her that day, so she never saw me, and I was glad.  What would I have said, "I thought you had died???"  No, that wouldn't have been good!  I was so shocked, it would have been awkward for me that day.

Last week another strange thing happened.  A Facebook friend made a new friend, and for those who are on Facebook, you know that it notifies you whenever one of your friends makes a new friend.  Well, this new friend happened to have the same name as a famous movie star (one that I actually know), so naturally I "clicked" on her name - just to see if it was the movie star.  Guess what?  No, it wasn't the movie star, but IT WAS THE LADY I THOUGHT HAD PASSED AWAY - AGAIN!  I couldn't believe it, and now I was really confused about where she was from because apparently she wasn't from any of the places I had previously thought. 

The good thing about all of this is that now I know her name.  And the fact that it is also a movie star's name I know I'll never forget it.  The next time I see this lady - most likely at the ladies' retreat at camp next fall - I will talk to her and I'll even call her by name.  However, I won't mention any of the rest of the story!

This whole thing makes me think of Mary when she came face to face with Jesus after his resurrection.  Can you imagine what she must have thought?  (Matthew 28:8-10; Mark 16:9-10)  Wouldn't that have been amazing to be one of the ones to first see Jesus?  That would have been both shocking and exciting!  And, while I was too "scared" to go up and speak to the lady I saw at Sam's, Matthew's account of the resurrection said that the women fell at Jesus' feet and worshipped him.  They weren't too afraid to speak to him. Then they went and told Jesus' disciples. 

What a great story!