November 2014

It was fourth of July weekend and Tim and Lynn were scheduled to speak at my home church in Indiana. Having followed along with their ministry on Facebook, I was excited to reunite with them and hear about the completion of their journey on the east coast a few months prior.

The morning started normally with the worship team doing sound checks and warming up voices before milling around until the service began. I headed to the back of the room when the doors opened and in walked Tim and Lynn Tuggle, as rugged and horsemen-like as ever, and Lynn’s parents in tow. My mom was first to greet them and introduced them to my sister. As I walked up, I caught Lynn’s eye and she turned to my mother and said, “Now this one I remember.”

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It was early September of 2012. As the late morning sunlight cast across my parents’ living room floor, I crawled off the sofa and onto my knees. Bowing into the carpet with forehead in my palms, an overwhelmed and burdened request escaped my lips:

Lord, just take her. Take her today. Why is she still here? Will You please end this pain and suffering?

My great-aunt Pat had been struggling for several years with a rare lung disease that had been gradually worsening. Her last days were spent in bed, living alone and nearly 45 minutes away. My dad called every day to check on her and in the event she didn’t answer the phone after several attempts, a drive was made. Stubborn as she was, she insisted on mostly caring for herself and a doctor visit was a rarity. Her coughing fits seemed to manifest excruciation in my own lungs just by the sound of them, and from my front row seat to this agony I questioned and questioned what purpose God had in all this.

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