Some old college friends got together for a mini-reunion this weekend, and it was nice spending time with them. Everyone’s kids got along well and spent a couple of hours playing together at a local park. We even got to catch a home football game — something I never really cared much about when I was in college, but it’s fun to cheer them on now.

There’s a lot to catch up on when you haven’t seen folks in a decade or two. I learned that a friend-of-a-friend (someone I didn’t know well but recognized his picture) died of a brain tumor after graduation. That news made me think of my brother and wonder if his 15- or 20-year high school reunion will mention his passing. He didn’t bother attending his 10-year; he was never a big fan of institutionalized education. (I chose that word on purpose, since he often compared school to prison, ha!)

As we got back into town and turned onto the main highway, I noticed that an intersection was closed off by several police cars with lights whirling, but what I didn’t know was that a colleague had perished in an accident there just a couple of hours prior. He leaves behind a wife and toddler daughter. I didn’t know him outside of the board on which he served as a steering committee member, and I just met his wife for the first time at the Condoleezza Rice event last week. I’d seen pictures of his daughter but now wish that I’d taken the time to get to know his whole family better.

I’m experiencing a grief relapse today.

It’s been nearly three years since Nathan died. I have a hard enough time wrapping my head around that fact, but the even sadder part is that so much grief has occurred even since then. I lost another colleague in a car accident, a family friend who was like my second mom, an uncle, a cousin, my boss’ son, a friend’s infant son, another friend’s miscarriage, a different friend’s miscarriage, a neighbor’s cancer diagnosis, a friend’s cancer diagnosis … even strangers who were close to my circles — like students and church members lost in accidents and illness — tugged at my heartstrings.

Today, I’m reminded of one of the first “long” passages of Scripture that I ever memorized. I learned it for a skit that my youth group performed  for our church, but it has truly been written on my heart and has seen me through some devastating days. Following is the way Revelation 21: 1-4 sounds in my head, but here is the NIV version (I guess I tweaked a word or two over the years):

And then, I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, like a bride beautifully prepared for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men. He will live with them; they will be his people, and God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death, or mourning, or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’

Come quickly, Lord Jesus.