The Five….Six People You Meet in Heaven

Today Church for The Highlands said good-bye to one of our own. She was not a civic leader, a household name or even a quietly successful young lady by any conventional standards. She was just our sweet and troubled Joslyn.

She found our church family like so many others, from a simple invite of a friend who was catching the church van. A chance invitation to join a random group of people on Sunday morning to learn more about a God she already knew and loved. The way she accepted others and was accepted is a beautiful thing to me.

It was not uncommon for J to quietly mumble and gesture with her hands in Bible Study or the church service. She was a soft-spoken, understated personality with lots in her mind and a desire to belong. She sounds exactly like every other human I know.

During the Christmas Eve Service at church, I noticed frenzied activity in the row behind Jack, Aunt Holly and Mimi. Joslyn slumped over and was trapped between the pews. With a forcible shove from a church member, the EMT’s freed her and began CPR while the band continued on with “Jesus, What a Beautiful Child.” Later on we were told that Joslyn had a blood clot and died instantly.

I sat across from her at our book exchange Christmas party on December 17th. In looking for photos of her, I was struck to discover that the book Joslyn drew was Mitch Album’s “The Five People You Meet in Heaven.” As awful a thing it was to watch unfold, I struggle to imagine a sweeter send off than the soulful sounds of a church on Christmas Eve. The thought of magnifying a child’s birth, the very child who left Heaven for Earth for us.

Totally healed, utterly free, we love you, Joslyn.

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