Mrs. Carol Hurte passed away this weekend after a recent sudden illness rounded a corner of no return. She is to be visited with tonight- her body, not her soul-then buried tomorrow. What a sad day, what a profound loss.
Carol had a devoted husband of many years as well as two grown daughters- one married and one who was to be married in four days' time.
She was young.
She was integral in the daily operation of a large church, but had been just as integral 25 years ago when the church was a third its current size.
I remember thinking of her as sort of a Door Bouncer for the Preacher when I worked at the church as a teen... you had to cross her desk to get to him, and well... it had better be important!
:)
Oh! and she could sing... my, could she ever!
It has been several years since I was in my home church back in North Augusta, but it makes no difference, I hear her name and that is enough to set off her husky rendition of "Ship Ahoy" in my memory. I can still see her in the old sanctuary, under the fluorescent lights arranged in the ceiling to form a cross, kicking that leg up as she reached for air and a note that seemed to dwell in the the very depths of the sea itself, to belt out " .... from my soul I can say "Bless the Lord"
She could make you see that small, storm tossed vessel, and the strong arm of the Captain reaching out to save...
She knew the Peace Speaker and It was Well with her soul ...
When she sang, you could see Him too, just passing over a grassy field extending His hand towards you... and it was well with your Soul too-- at least until she sang the last note.
Beautiful Music has drifted from Earth's shores through Heaven's Gates and we are forever more deaf and mute without her here...
Oh, I am sure Mrs Carol is just fine this morning aboard ol' Zion. It is the rest of us who hurt, who will miss her so. We hurt for our own loss and we hurt more for the loss we know this will be for her family. We want to comfort and to erase a pain so deep . . . but it is in that very pain that we see just how deeply she was loved upon this earth. It is the salt of our tears that heals the gash to our hearts as much as it can be healed this side of Heaven.
Miss Carol, we will miss your beautiful voice. Things around Victory will never be the same as when you were with us...
Steve, Becky, Katie and family- time and distance cannot erase the sadness created in my heart for you. May this season of tears be caught in Heaven's bottle and returned to you as rains of happiness over fields of joy. You are, of course, in our thoughts and prayers . . . oh that there were something more than those, to offer you as a balm, a salve for your pain... but He is enough... He will be...hold Him to it because He promised to BE...