The Journey

The procession set out on a winding journey through the North Carolina mountains toward a destination that would forever serve as a memorial to a life. As the line of cars passed through the valley, the path was insulated by men, women, boys and girls who stood in silence offering their respect and sensing the sadness of this event. Unknowingly, it was their presence that offered a healing balm to those who passed through the ‘valley of he shadow of death.’

A slight breeze rustled the leaves of the giant oak trees that stood guard over the fresh grave that awaited a young North Carolina State Highway Patrol trooper who had been killed in the line-of-duty. Gathered on a hillside tucked away on the Cherokee Reservation, hundreds of family members, friends, and fellow law enforcement officers from various posts across the United States bid a final farewell to Shaun Blanton.

Words of grace and comfort were pronounced by the pastor as a reminder to everyone within earshot that ‘God is love and continues to be in control.’ He spoke those words of promise for those among the gathering whose heartache would not permit them to speak for themselves.

The sounds of nature were joined with quite sobs of loss and pain as if it were a rehearsed harmony. The faint, yet familiar, tune of ‘Taps’ stirred the souls of the gathered and the ’21-gun-salute,’ though an offering of honor, issued a startle that confirmed the reality of death.

On a pleasant hillside, a young widow left the ‘love of her life’ in the arms of God. She would resume her maternal calling and return to the bedside of her newborn son, who weighing just three pounds, struggled to preserve the life he had known for a mere twenty days. A son, who had arrived in this world too soon, would never experience the depth of his father's love who departed the same world much too soon.

Just maybe, the grace of God that had sustained this wife, this mother, during the days of grief and pain, would be sufficient to enable her to love her baby boy back to health. While may questions remain unanswered, this is sure: God knows the pain that accompanies the journey of life and death. And He cares.