Life is Precious

On Sunday morning, I went to celebrate Easter at Mt. Olivet Baptist Church in Beaverdam, Virginia. This is the church that I grew up in. We arrived at 10:40 as the service was scheduled to begin at 10:45. There was no where to sit downstairs so we made our way to the balcony. The choir led the church in a beautiful cantata which was followed by our pastor's Easter sermon. We found ourselves proclaiming "Christ the Lord is Risen. He is risen indeed!" This was a meaningful service and spoke to me more than I realized at the time I was sitting there.

As the service was beginning, our family friends arrived. Brandon insisted on sitting on the front row of the balcony. He really shouldn't sit there because of his epilepsy. However, since the service had already started his parents allowed him to sit there so that he wouldn't cause a scene. Brandon is not only epileptic, he is mentally handicapped and doesn't always know how to handle situations. Brandon and I have grown up together. He is 24 years old, yet he is on the level of a 5 to 7 year old. He is epileptic and has a seizure nearly every day. In January 2008 he had 29 seizures.

During the service I could tell that he wasn't himself. He was singing when he shouldn't be, he was speaking out and then he began hallucinating. It was very sad for me to watch as he thought that he had bugs coming out of his skin. After the service, he left and went out into the parking lot. As is the norm we were all standing in front of the church talking. After at 15 minutes we were being called over to across the parking lot. Brandon had followed a family to their car. In the meantime, he began to seize and fell out. He hit his head on the pavement and the family had no idea what to do. My father was the first to get over to Brandon. He held his head while I ran over with his mother and father. The pastor called for a nurse. We know that if we leave Brandon to sit he will pass out for 45 minutes to an hour. We had to get him in the van right away. It took 6 men to lift Brandon and get him in their vehicle. Brandon doesn't like to be moved and begins to scream out. Only this time, he was screaming, "Ouch". We weren't sure if he was hurt internally. By this point, many of us were crying because of the severity of the seizure.

We know that Brandon won't get better. He has had so many seizures that it has caused a lot of brain damage. When he begins to seize he just drops out. He has fallen through the oven door at his house, fallen through the bathroom wall, and fallen into a counter and knocked his teeth out. The doctors have told his parents that they there is nothing they can do. Brandon is not a candidate for surgery because the seizures are not coming from a part of the brain that can be operated on. The end result is a Grand Mal seizure that will kill him. Brandon is such an innocent soul and it is so hard to see him in this shape.

After spending the evening at home on Easter evening, I found out that one of my friend's had lost her husband on Saturday. He was rock climbing and fell 180 feet to his death. They had been married three years.


Life is precious. Christ died and arose for all of us. Let us not take anything for granted. We are blessed beyond measure and we often don't realize this until bad things happen. I am not sure why Brandon has these seizures or why my friend had to lose her husband. But I do know that Christ is here for all of us. As we celebrate the risen Christ let us remember that life is precious. It is a gift. Don't take it for granted.