Tragic loss

This week, an Orlando pastor, Isaac Hunter, took his own life.  Regrettably, suicide is not foreign to church leaders and their families.  Last month, Macon pastor Teddy Parker took his life, and in April, Rick Warren’s son, Matthew, did the same.    I don’t know the statistics well enough to know whether suicide affects church families more than non-church families, but those deaths do seem to get quite a bit of attention.   I think people want to believe that church leaders are immune to the problems that could cause someone to consider suicide, or that they are strong enough to endure those problems should they be confronted with them.   I believe that the pressures on  these leaders could be more intense than anything most of us have to deal with.  I also believe that the depression that leads to suicide is a sickness that we are still learning how to treat.  I didn’t know any of these men personally, but I have known one man who committed suicide.  He is the son of one of my close friends.   I feel the pain of my loss, and I feel the immense pain of his family.  They are all believers in and followers of Jesus, and I believe they would say that the only thing that has enabled them to endure the pain is the love that Jesus has shown them both directly and through their friends.  I pray Isaac Hunter’s family is surrounded by the same kind of people this week.