Monday, February 19, 2007

A Tragic Story With a Message

This is a story of a rather recent event that involved an antique family bible from 1850.

Tragically, I lost my son in the war in Iraq, and my chaplain spent hours on writing a sermon for the service. Having never been confronted with such a young loss, he chose the story of David and Goliath to describe my son's efforts and bravery.

Weeks later, during a visit, i showed him these two antique family bibles that I had picked up at an estate sale in 1992. Big thick books that they are, he handled them with the utmost care, using a touch as soft as a feather to open the fragile pages.

These bibles had not been opened for ten years, but sat on a shelf.

In his hands, the book opened to a page, and he gasped. I thought it was in appreciation of the book, but instead he speechlessly pointed to the page, and so I looked. It was the story of David and Goliath.

~ tricia langley Proud Marine Mom of LCpl Sean Michael Langley kia 11-07-2004

location: City
state_lived_in: KY

Granny Comment:
When I first received this email, I wept like I have not in years. I felt as if the life had been sucked out of me but later when I went back and re-read it I saw that Tricia's son was reaching out to his mom to let her know that he is okay. Not that this lessens the pain of her loss. The relationship between a mother and her son is very special and he needed her to know that he is safe and unhurt in his new place.

I want to thank Tricia for sharing this with me, with all of us.

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