April 27 – “Through the storms”

We woke up this morning to some serious thunderstorms.  Lots of lightning and heavy rain.  And the Honor Guard Academy is about to start an intensive two days of training.  Today they are learning how to properly handle caskets.  That should be no problem.  It can be done indoors and under the cover of Moody Gardens’ drive through area next to the parking garage.  Thanks, by the way, should go out to the ER Johnson Family Mortuary.  They are loaning the Academy a casket and hearse for the training. 

Tomorrow might be an issue, though.  It is predicted that the rain will continue.  That will be a difficult scenario, because the whole day is set aside to perform a mock line of duty death funeral.  They are even scheduled to go to a local cemetery and perform the duties of a graveside burial.  These instructors seem to be pretty creative, though.  It’ll be interesting to see how they handle whatever comes up. 

I can’t go to the sessions today.  The older guy who was the recipient of the 10:30 p.m. fire call next door to us a week or so ago died the other day.  His funeral mass is this morning at the local Catholic basilica, so Chris and I are planning to go.  We are kind of praying the rain backs off a bit for that, but it came down so heavy already this morning that they might have already postponed the actual burial. 

Wow.  Caskets and hearses and funerals and cemeteries and basilicas and line of duty deaths.  Not to mention dark, stormy, unsettled weather.  The next two days hold the potential for stirring up a lot of buried emotions for these young academy guys. 

Mark 9:41 says, “I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward.”

Father, would you wrap your arms around the young men who might have some deep-seeded issues about death?  Draw them to yourself through the storms … of the weather, of this really tough training segment, and most especially, of their lives. Amen