In Memory of Stephen James Braun

We found out today that Jayme's father passed away. It's all very recent news with more information forthcoming, but it is very very sad. Jayme was on the road but they very graciously and lovingly let him come home and paid for the flight. So now we sit in the moment of that first day sad news is heard. Rambling through emotions, reminiscing about things as simple as how he would stir his tea and his affinity for sweet tea. Remembering what his laugh sounded like...I find that interesting and endearing. Is it just me or is one of the very first things you hear echo in your head after someone you love passes away their laugh? That almost always comes to me first. And as I hear it I pray that I won't ever forget its sound. I remember saying that prayer when my uncle died, now 13 years ago, and truly I can still hear it. A little more distant than it used to be but I hear it. 

Even in watching "The Passion of The Christ" one of the key scenes that has stuck with me all this time was seeing Jesus joke and play with his mother and watching him laugh. We tend to more often approach him in an atmosphere of seriousness, or wandering, or confusion, or grief. Do we ever hear him laugh?

I wish that I had known Steve far better than I did. I will say that the one thing I knew about him with certainty is that he lived to serve the Lord and he did his best to do so. That he truly loved his Savior. At the end of life there is nothing more I need to be said about me than that. And his memory now reminds me to make myself more known. The joy of life is to know people and to be known, to share in life's goodness and its trials. Neither is any fun to go through alone. 

"For to me, living is for Christ and dying is even better. Yet if I live, that means fruitful service for Christ. I really don't know which is better. I'm torn between two desires: Sometimes I want to live, and sometimes I long to go and be with Christ. That would be far better for me but it is better for you that I live." - Philippians 1:21-24

He is where he has always wanted to be. He waited patiently and now is rewarded beyond our imaginations.  

Here is a link to one of his recent messages in Taiwan:

www.chosenonesica.org/audio%20files/Rev.%20Steve%20Braum-Sept.16,2007.MP3