Читать книгу Letters to Peter - Donald E. Mayer - Страница 6

In the spring of 1998 our son Peter was killed in an auto accident, plunging his wife, Linda, their five-year-old daughter, Chelsey, and all of our family into relentless, painful grief. This book is an account of that grief—and of what helped us to move though the “shadow of death” into fullness of life once more. In my career as a pastor I am accustomed to responding to similar events in others’ lives. It is usually in writing, often in a sermon for a memorial service. Thus it is not surprising that I wrote a piece for the memorial service for Peter.

What is different about that memorial piece is that it was not addressed to the people gathered for the memorial. It was addressed to Peter. And it was the first of a series of letters I felt compelled to write to Peter expressing my grievous, pain-filled response to his death.

Except for the letter read at Peter’s memorial service, each letter was addressed exclusively to Peter. At first, I shared the letters only with my wife, Lynnea, and our widowed daughter-in-law, Linda. Now I offer these letters to you. While each situation of loss is unique, you may find much in these letters that resonates with your own experience. It would not be true to say that everyone belongs to a company of believers. But it is true that at some time all of us belong to a company of grievers.

In the first section of the book the letters are in effect a day-by-day journal of the grief of a mom and dad for a deceased son. In the second section of the book, I explore what helped us to grieve well, probing the mystery of how comfort and fullness of life do come to us—in spite of the neverending loss of our son.

Tears and anger, doubt and fear, pain and “if-onlys” are all present here, as they no doubt also are in your particular grief. But you will also see here the attention of caring friends, and a repeated decision to trust in a God who pays attention to us and cares.

Years ago in a long dark winter I was often sustained by the hope that my painful experience might someday be helpful to someone else. Now in that hope I offer to you these letters to Peter.