The Great Exchange

Today marks 49 years since I found my brother Bobby dead on my couch. I was 18 years old and Bobby was my best friend. I think about him everyday and I wonder what life would be like if he was present here with me and oh the stores we would tell of our younger years. Bobby was 17 years old when he died and still today his loss brings unstoppable tears. We had planned to spend the night watching old movies and eating peanut butter sandwiches and then he got a call to go out. He returned late and we stayed up a bit and made plans to spend the next day in Hoboken when we got up in the morning. The morning came but Bobby did not wake up having died in his sleep of an overdose. I called 911 and when they arrived they said , DOA. I asked what does that mean and I was told dead on arrival. They took his body and I was left alone standing in the apartment feeling pain I had never known before. I miss him everyday. It was the loss of my brother that sent me on a search to find out what was this life about and why was I here. My search ended when I met Jesus and truly His love took me in and changed me forever. I will never get over the loss of my Bobby but God continues to get me through daily. The great exchange is real..

Isaiah 61:3 to console the mourners in Zion—to give them a crown of beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and a garment of praise for the spirit of despair. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He maybe be glorified.