Yesterday we went to the cemetery to visit my mother-in-law who is buried there.  As you can imagine it is a difficult place to visit, but it is also beautiful.  The Covina Hills Forest Lawn cemetery looks out over the San Gabriel Valley.  We went early in the morning and because it wasn’t a holiday, the cemetery wasn’t very crowded.  There were very few flowers on graves.  We were remembering the birthday of Barbara.  Her grave was one of the few that had flowers.  This felt special to us.  The grass was particularly wet and the air was smoggy as we walked, looked, talked a little, and experienced some silence.  Our baby Rebecca never had the opportunity to meet her “Nana Choo choo.”  So visiting this place is important, I feel, for giving her a tangible experience to remember her grandma.

I like the resurrection.  It is a red hot poker that stabs the heart of grief.  It causes the over confident to blush with embarrassment.  It seems like foolishness to many, sometimes it seems like that to me.  But what is so delightful about the resurrection is how bizarre it is.  It doesn’t fit neatly within a reasonable metaphysic, scientific theory, or philosophy.  But to the 28 year old dad who needs some hope for his family, it is just the thing.