Home, Sweet Home – Making Our House Into a Home

It’s homecoming week. There’s supposed to be an air of excitement and competition all week. We’re supposed to be pumping up for the pep rally and the big game. But, it’s been a rough day. Today Easley High School lost a pillar of it’s faculty. Tom Oxendine died this morning from what the preliminary results are saying is an aneurysm. Having only been here for a few years, I wasn’t very close to O (that’s what he was called around here). I just know how wonderfully the students and faculty regarded him. I know how encouraging he was to me after teaching a class to the faculty. I know that he is truly going to be missed.

Little things are going to be hard. He supervised the kids in the lunch lines every day…some kids couldn’t even make themselves go into the cafeteria. One student in particular walked in the cafeteria but had to turn around and walk out after seeing Mr. O’s normal spot empty. Little things run through my mind…Who’s going to tell the kids that 2nd lunch is over? Who’s going to clear the 500 lobby? Who can take his place? My heart is breaking today. It breaks for the faculty who has lost a dear friend. It breaks for the students who have lost a mentor. And mostly it breaks for the family who has lost a husband, father, and brother.

That’s where reality sets in for me. What if it were my daddy? My brother? Jerrad? I try to be strong for these kids, but I don’t know if I would be strong if it was my family.

I’m not allowed to preach the Bible to my kids. But I do preach to them often. Before my kids left today, I told them all “You never know what this life is going to bring you. You never know what tomorrow is going to hold. And you had better make sure your heart is right every day because you never know what is going to happen.”

Father, I pray your love around the family of O and around this school family. We’re going to need your support and encouragement over the coming days. Father, I pray that you wrap your loving arms around the Oxendine family and give them the strength they need. Comfort the students. For many it’s their first taste of death. Help them to know that death is not an enemy as long as they know You. Help me to be a witness and to show Your unending love and compassion during this time of sorrow. I pray that you keep your hand on my family. Keep them healthy and safe and let them live long, happy, healthy lives. Thank you father for being the awesome father that you are. Thank you for the gift of Tom that you gave EHS and for the time you allowed him to be here.