These logistics are hard for me to write about, but I know that many of you want to be praying for Isaac’s family and friends in Honduras today, so I will do my best.

God definitely answered prayers on behalf of finding his body last night.  Though they found him 2 miles downriver, the speed of the water could have taken it there very quickly.  Those searching almost decided not to go out and look because it seemed so futile.  Thank God for guiding them so clearly!  They found his body at 9:15pm (11:15 here) and immediately took it to San Antonio, where they prepared it for burial.  They left immediately for Erandique, where Isaac’s family was waiting.  They arrived there this morning.  The burial will be today on the clinic grounds, in the area where Jr Troyers, the Clutters,  and Daniel and Melissa are living.  There will be a service there on Sunday, after the group of about 9 from the Coates’ home church here in NC arrives.   So please keep them in your hearts and prayers.   God bless you.

Reality sinks in deeper with the tangible evidence of our loss now recovered.  My heart is overwhelmed with memories this morning.  The thought of never seeing Isaac again on earth is just too much for words …

It’s so hard to believe that the familiar ways of one person we love won’t be here for us to see anymore.  His personal little quirks, the words and expressions typical of only him, his leather jacket that bore the scratches of his accident in November (they were always a reminder of how fortunate we all were to still have him around), the sound of his bike going by, or better yet, idling in the lane,  seeing him don his helmet and popping his visor open for one last word, the sight of his phone in his hand, hearing his voice, but more than that, seeing his face … all these and more are irreplaceable characteristics of Isaac that I miss.  The loss is much greater for his family today, and his life-long friends.

Thank-you, dear Isaac, for gracing the world with your beauty. I can see your queried look, “Beauty?”  Compliments were hard for you to take, I know, but you would understand what I mean.  You always understood the deep implications that most people don’t begin to grasp.  And today, your comprehension of beauty is so far above and beyond what any of us know on earth.  I wish you could somehow tell us about it.  I can’t wait to walk those streets of gold with you and hear your descriptions and all your first impressions.   I’m so glad you don’t have to say “I’ll try” anymore when we tell you to take care of yourself.  Rest in your forever day in Heaven, dear friend. 

Your mourning sis –

We just received the news that Isaac’s body has been found in the river, about 2 miles from where they had been swimming. Please continue to pray for the family and all involved, as these are very difficult moments for them. Thank you for your prayers.

Please visit this website set up especially for you to leave comments and blessings for the entire Coates family.

Thank you, and keep on praying.

 

Could it be that angels live

Among us here for years?

Could it be they come in form

Of hard-trod paths, kin to tears?

If so, then maybe I can understand,

If so, perhaps my heart can bear

The pain, the love, the joy all intertwined.

 

Could it be that angels come

With hesitance at birth?

Then dash to meet the world,

With ardor and vim of no dearth?

If so, then maybe I can understand,

If so, perhaps my heart can bear

The pain, the love, the joy all intertwined.

 

Could it be that angels love

Each heart to the kernel?

Could it be their friendship leaves

A touch as of God eternal?

If so, then maybe I can understand,

If so, perhaps my heart can bear

The pain, the love, the joy all intertwined.

 

Could it be that angels cry

When people are so cruel?

When men of depth are rare

And tender hearts are fool?

If so, then maybe I can understand,

If so, perhaps my heart can bear

The pain, the love, the joy all intertwined.

 

Could it be that angels die,

Their hearts too great for earth?

Could it be tears of our loss

Outweigh the pain at birth?

If so, then maybe I can understand,

If so, perhaps my heart can bear

The pain, the love, the joy all intertwined.

 

The light in your eyes, the deep sobriety in your eyes, the unusual compassion, the zest for life, the struggle with life, your capacity to love, the way you understood hearts, the impression you left on every one that knew you … were you just sent from God, and had to go to Him again? Thank-you, friend. We miss you.  We always will. Welcome Home.

I wonder how many times in the last six months I have told you that.  Now you are with Jesus and nobody will ever have to tell you again, because you are experiencing it completely! 

With tears in my heart, I want to dedicate this post to our beloved friend, Isaac Coates.   This young man has left an influence on so many lives like few people ever could.  He is a brother to Melissa, my heroine below, and her husband Daniel.  They were extremely close, so please pray for her and Isaac’s whole family, his mother Joy, and other sisters Shanna, Brianna, Gretta, and Amy.  Their Daddy welcomed Isaac into heaven today, as far as we can know.  For more information on the accident, please check out our friends’ blog at www.xanga.com/innerjoy 

There are few words for the pain in my heart … when it’s someone so close to you, sometimes the details are hard to talk about in the midst of the numb shock.  Those of us who love Isaac (and we are many) feel so far away and helpless to do anything but pray for his friends and loved ones there, and weep together here. Shortly after Isaac disappeared, I got a call on my phone from our mutual friend Michael, who was swimming with him.  Since that time, amidst many tears and cries to God, I have been thinking deeply.    I would like to share a tribute to Isaac tonight. 

Isaac impacted my own life in a way almost no one has, and in a few months time, he became as close as the closest brother to me.  Even then, I have known few people with the depth and insight and sensitivity and compassion that Isaac has.  The last year of his life has been tough, with lots of questions and searchings for him.  For some reason, in the midst of the heat of the spiritual battle he was in, he priviledged me deeply by dropping by several times for a cup of coffee and to share his heart.  In a very short time, I felt like I had known him forever, and I loved him deeply.  We kept in touch from then until two weeks ago when he left to spend a few weeks in Central America with his family.  I’ve missed him incredibly, but we were all looking forward to seeing him again in two weeks when our family plans to go down.  I didn’t know I would have to wait till Heaven.

 I cannot explain how, but God used Isaac to stir my heart toward God in one of the deepest revivals I have ever experienced in my life.  It is so deep, in fact, that it has been hard to talk about.  God drew my heart to His in love and in compassion for souls like never before.  He stirred me to realize His calling upon my own life in a very profound way.  He put a burden on my heart to pray for this dear son of His, as I somehow always knew he was … and that burden stayed there every day for the last five or six months.  God loved that man, and He wanted Him by His side, I am convinced.  Many nights, God would not let me sleep because the compelling love and burden to pray was so real, and He taught me more about what true intercession really was through Isaac.   The love that God poured into my heart for his soul was so that I didn’t know what do with it sometimes … that is the way God is.

I saw in Isaac a gift that is rare to the world.  It is hard to explain here, but it seemed the magnitude of his potential for God was beyond most human beings’.  The devil knows these special people, and he is a master at trying to destroy them.  But I thank God that he is defeated.  Perhaps that is the best gift Isaac has given me.  That is the continual opportunity to exercise faith in a God Who is so much bigger than most of us ever allow Him to be, in our lives, and in everyone else’s life.  And I rejoice to know that my dear brother friend indeed turned his heart toward God and once again found peace in that relationship.  In one of our last conversations, he told me that he hadn’t been so happy in a long while as he was right then.  My last memory of him is a warm good-bye hug and the peace I saw in his eyes the night he left the states to be with his family.  Thank-you, Jesus.

This afternoon, for awhile my thoughts were frantic towards God, “You have to show yourself strong once more and save his life!!”  But gradually, God touched my heart with His peace, and through my tears and groanings for Isaac’s dear family and all of us who love him so much, there came a growing realization of God.  Once again, He is bigger than us all.  We thought God needed Isaac here to make a difference in His kingdom.  But God loved Isaac.  He wants to give him rest and shower him with the Father love that Isaac so longed for.  He wants to wipe away all his tears and answer all his questions and hold Him near.   He did use him countless times, even in the darkest hours of his life here.  I didn’t think that was fair, that others were changed so positively by his life when his own difficulties were huge to him, but he cared so much about people.   I can still see him tilt his head in that caring manner and hear his sincere parting words uttered so often, “Take care …”  

 God did it then and is even now using him to make a difference.  But for Isaac himself, there is rest.  Just rest, and a new body with all ten fingers intact, and joys indescribable forever.    That is how God is.                                        

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

                                                               

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          It 

It would be selfish to wish him back.  Tho’ the tears flow freely as we miss everything about him so much, God gives grace to say, ‘Thy will be done.’

Lord, please comfort his dear family.   Please comfort us all … he had so many, many friends.

This post is dedicated with love to two very dear friends that I miss very much.  Mattie, your life has inspired mine so many times.  I love you for many reasons, but you have especially impacted my life with your genuine honesty and forthright manner.  In this world where we have learned too well how to hide our true selves away behind smiles and polished words … I deeply appreciate real people, probably above all because it speaks to the need of my own heart.  Thank-you.  God blesses you for that by causing you to grow and grow in Him.  I love you.  It is a great joy to see you holding your very own grandson, and imagine the warm twinkle in your beautiful eyes when you look at him.

My most recent ‘favorite mother’ is my dear heart-friend and ‘cousin-in-law’ (or was that ‘sister’?). Congratulations and welcome to your precious little son!  What a joy to see you delighting in your own baby … I can hardly wait to see and hug you both.  Thank-you, Melissa, for your example of fervent love for God and your hubby and now your tiny son.  I pray the blessing of God would pour out upon you and give you much rest in Him every day.  You may think you are far away and unnoticed, but this is to encourage you otherwise.   You are my heroine.  I love you.

Lord, I lift my friend to Your throne of mercy;

I know you see her sad life torn apart.

You feel the pain she’s buried deep within;

You hold the key to her locked away heart.

 

God, You know the pain inside there is brutal,

And endlessly filled with a fresh supply …

It seems too much for one human to handle,

Yet even now within I sense Your reply.

 

Yes, child, some things you cannot understand,

And what I allow may seem unkind and cruel;

But my grace is enough for anyone’s life…

Jesus  knows their pain, has felt it in full.

 

Oh, God, give my friend strength to reach out to Him,

Help her open her heart and release everything

Into the hands of her loving Redeemer.

Please give her the grace all her problems to bring.

 

Let faith rise within, e’en but a mustard seed 

Is all that we need to believe and be saved!

So, please God, in her sad sickness please come,

 Open her eyes to the forgiveness you gave.

 

 I ask you, dear God, to behold that small seed …

Perhaps buried deep in rejection and loss,

There glistens some hopeful desire to believe;

That will bring her to You, no matter the cost.