Funeral for a Friend

This past week has been a sad week for me with one of my co deacons and friend Pat Coughlin passing away. His death remains a question in my mind and a reason for some righteous anger. Wednesday December 29 and Thursday December 30 were the days of his family visitation and funeral. I went to the visitation early in the afternoon only to become one of a thousand or so who passed through the doors. It was a standing room only crowd from 1:00 in the afternoon to 8:00 in the evening. Such a great testimony to all the lives he touched in the Wayland area. The funeral was at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday and the parking lot was full at 10:00 when I arrived. I sat with a few Friends from church and just watched the mass of people enter the building. I probably recognised 10% of the people there. It was a very nice funeral. There was one particular event during the funeral that kind of gave me a reason for me for Pats death. The music was nice(Amazing Grace) Chris Tomlin style, Psalm 23 and a great tribute from a close friend and minister. However Pats niece read letters from his 4 children to Pat. These letters included how the missed Pat and how read stories to them, played games with them, made them recite their ABC'S when they were bad and just a laundry list of great things Pat did as a father with his children. This brought tears to my eyes as I reflected on what my children might write to me if I died tomorrow. It was if Pat was tapping me on the shoulder and saying "Dan pay attention to your children and family". "It's the most important thing in your world"
After the funeral I talked to a few more friends and each one of them had the same feelings of guilt that I had. I went home after the funeral and just took Hazel and Iris and Lily in my arms and prayed and asked God to help us become a more loving caring family and take time for our children and make us even more a blessing to them as they are to us. A little less time on Face book or EBay and a little more time involved in their world. I have found one silver lining in a very dark cloud of Pat's death to apply to myself. Hopefully the 400 or so fathers in attendance that day received the same message and the children in the Wayland area will benefit also.