Today is April 19, 2007 and we just buried my oldest brother. I cannot describe the emotional roller coaster our family has been on this past week. This has been the most heart wrenching and devastating experience that I have ever had in my life. The hurt is beyond description and the emptiness cannot be explained.
Bishop Bobby Stephen Brackett age 61 went home to be with the Lord this past Monday morning. It was just last Tuesday (10th) that my dad passed away and to have Bob die in less than a week's time is like a nightmare. My heart is like wax after being broken and crushed. Just when I think I'm getting a handle on everything it hits me again and I cannot hold back the tears. It's unexplainable and unimaginable.
I was with Bob when he died and it will be forever embedded in my mind. I wanted so much to help him but there was nothing that I, my brother David, my sister Darlene or the paramedics could do; he was gone. I cried out to God and I said, "God I don't understand, how can this be happening? We just lost dad, please don't take Bob" I don't have any answers or any explanation for why this has happened. But I do know that God is God and He always will be God! I went back to the church and got on my face before God and I prayed. I said, "God you don't owe me an explanation and you don't have to answer to me. I know that you are sovereign and your ways are above my ways. I will praise you in the midst of my grief and my sorrow" I've never felt God anymore powerful than during this time when I have been crushed and broken.
I will miss Bob because we labored together in the ministry. I'll miss calling him on Monday morning and asking him how he is doing and hearing him say, "I'm a clicking!" He was my golfing partner and I will miss playing golf with him and talking shop.
My heart goes out to his wife Joyce, daughters Karen & Madessa. I cannot imagine how it will be when they realize that he is never coming home again. The East Belmont Church of God has lost a great pastor and they will be hard pressed to find a better man than Bob Brackett. My dear 81 year old mother has lost a husband and a son in less than a week's time.
So, what do you do? How do you respond and react to such devastating events in life? What do you do; you keep holding on to the faith! You keep trusting God to see you through. You keep looking up because you know that they cannot come home but we will soon be going home.
1 comment:
I want to commend you on the wonderful job you did preaching your brother's funeral, I can only imagine how hard that would be. Bobby was my pastor at China Grove Church of God from 1989 when I started going there until he left in 1993 and I think if it weren't for the way he preached and his gentleness and spirit I probably wouldn't be in church today. I got saved under his ministry and I will always be grateful for that. I had a really hard time when my dad and also when my grandmother died but Bobby's passing was equally devastating. When I found out about it I went numb all over. He was a great man and will always be missed but we do know where he is spending eternity and that he is healthy and happy now. My prayers go out to the family and also to his many, many friends.
Terry Spurlin, Mount Ulla, NC
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