grace through trials.....

I'm not sure how to categorize this post or how to title it. Something happened last week that Tom and I will never forget. Wednesday morning, a farenji (foreigner) friend of ours phoned Tom sobbing and crying.."Tom-come now-come quick- my son is dead." We jumped into our pickup truck and sped down to his farm, not knowing what we would find. A heart attack maybe? A tractor accident? We prayed that whatever it was, that we would be a source of comfort to our friend. But we were completely unprepared for what we saw. His son (age 29) was dead of a gunshot wound to the head. We arrived before the police did. We saw his body, leaning over his lap with his hands tucked in his lap. Sitting on the edge of his bed. Blood everywhere. Was it murder or suicide? No one seemed to know. The father paced around outside, chain smoking and eyes brimming with tears- asking the inevitable question: "why?"  When the police arrived, they respectfully approached the house and tentatively opened the door. As they peered inside, they all burst into tears and cried unashamedly. That surprised me. But I realized that that is the way that Ethiopians show compassion for others' sorrow. Even the police. There were around 70 farm employees squatting in groups around the house, speaking quietly, some crying. He was well liked by them all. The police did their investigation-taking fingerprints and removing the bed and even a wall as evidence. I felt like I was watching an episode of CSI. But there were no easy answers- to some it looked like a murder that was made to look like a suicide.....who knows?
But then our friend asked us to transport the body to Addis Ababa( the only place in the country that can do an autopsy on a foreigner)  So we loaded his body in a wooden box and began the 9 hr drive to the capital. A car filled with policemen followed us and we drove through the night, arriving in Addis at 3 am
at the morgue. Another experience I will never forget. I won't describe what we saw there. It was too sad for words. And then the sister arrived from Italy- more tears as she saw her brother lying on the morgue table......
I don't know why we were a part of all this- I only know that living in Ethiopia has offered us challenges that we never could have anticipated. And only Jesus can give us the strength and the grace to cope with it and to see it through........please pray for this devastated family.....