A DEATH IN THE FAMILY

My wife LaRee lost her mother two days ago. Her intense pain is in direct proportion to her intense love. She gives herself completely to love; it has been the hallmark of her life. 

LaRee Pickup

LaRee & I were asked to give the keynote address to the 2010 U.S. National Right to Life Prayer Breakfast in Baltimore. She was very, very nervous. People wanted to hear what this amazing woman had to say (I was an add-on). 

LaRee spoke of love ― her love for family ― to a spell-bound sold-out audience. At one point, LaRee quoted the 19th Century French author Victor Hugo: 

“To love or to have loved, that is enough. Ask nothing further. There is no other pearl to be found in the dark folds of life. Love is a consummation.”

The teary audience was stunned yet captivated at LaRee's willingness to be vulnerable and lay her heart bare before a packed ballroom. You could have heard a pin drop. People openly wept.

When LaRee finished, the room erupted in prolonged standing ovation. LaRee had struck a full chord in the hearts of the people.  

Now, once again, LaRee is paying the price for that pearl of love she spoke of. Yet even in her anguish, she points people toward Author of love and life. She asked that the hymn Turn Your Eyes Toward Jesus be sung at her mother's funeral. Love does not stop at death: It carries on into eternity.
(See  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0jpHtsSEQo ) or click below.