How can something be both happy and sad?
How is it that at this moment, and the moments to come you can feel joy and then pain? Relief and then grief?
Death can be difficult, tricky, and capricious. For the ill, the tired, the ones who cannot come back, death is a welcome escort. Here to bring yourself or someone you love to a place of peace.
Other times death appears, unbidden, unwanted but still simply acting as an escort.
What is there for you to do when you are left behind? Just breathe. Let the tears come.
Breathe in and know that there is sadness. Breathe out and know that there is joy. Breathe in, breathe out and know that death is life.
The Rev. Dr. John Killinger died June 5, 2025. He will be celebrated and his body buried in Warrenton, Virginia.
He was my friend for more than 60 years. I believe John will contact me and other loved ones to tell us of his eternal joy in heaven.
James – Sending you peace and strength for your grief journey. I see that Rev. Dr. John Killinger was a light in your life.