HER VOICE NOW SILENCED

I am stunned to hear of Rachel Held Evans passing just this Saturday. I have truly enjoyed her books, her voice on faith and struggling with her evangelical Christian background. I just read her book, Inspired, while I was laid up and recovering from my foot surgery.
  I cannot believe her voice, her life is gone. At a mere 37 years old. It doesn't seem fair. I so rooted for her as a mainline Protestant. May light perpetual shine on her. God surround her husband and family in their utter grief and anguish and grant them peace and a measure of comfort. I can't imagine how much they must be hurting. We have lost a voice and light, but I know she has touched many lives and may her writings continue to do so.
   There has been far too much death lately.
   A man from the last congregation I served, just 2 years younger than I, and a dear soul of the 60's & 70's, who was a youth leader in the 80's & 90's, has died from lung cancer. Yes, he was a smoker, but such a wonderful, caring person. His mom in her 90's must be devasted. He was adopted and after a divorce and a daughter, remarried and they had decades together and a son. He will always have a warm place in my heart. Perhaps, several years ago, when he quit a lucrative job fixing gas wells and always away from home in S Ohio, W Virginia, & Pennsylvania for stretches at a time, was one of his best moves - that he had more time with his wife and family, available to help his mom. Now, he too has left this world at just 58 years of age.
    This past Saturday, a worshipper (she never joined) whose husband died of lung cancer just months after I baptized him, told me she was diagnosed with colon cancer. She is fragile person, still missing her husband. They were married for only 5 years. Although they knew each other longer, perhaps, 10 years at most. He was a bachelor who found love with her and she, who had been in an unhealthy marriage/divorce, found love when she never thought she would. They were so good for each other. And now, she is facing cancer herself.
    There is too much death going on around here.
But I am so deeply saddened by Rachel Held Evans death. A voice silenced much too soon. May the ripples of her faith and struggles and growth in faith reach out far and wide as they have. Rest in peace, Rachel. You will be so missed.