Frank fought until the end
Dojo readers,
Early this morning our friend Frank Edge finally succumbed to the cancer that he had been battling for the past few years.
His wife Wendy shared the news on Facebook this morning and my heart sank as I read it.
I knew Frank only through our online friendship over on the Underground, but over the past few years I came to love him and Wendy as true friends. Frank’s personality, kindness and general spirit of optimism served as a light that drew many people from all over the world to his side.
And Wendy’s love and fierce devotion to him during his fight with this horrendous disease was one of the greatest illustrations of the meaning of “til death do us part” that one could ever imagine. She has been every bit the fighter he was throughout this whole ordeal.
Today I grieve for Wendy’s loss of her best friend.
I grieve for their children who have had their father taken from them far too soon by this awful thing called cancer.
I grieve for all the other people around the world fighting this same fight.
But I do not grieve as one who has no hope!
Though this world groans with pain and suffering, it also shines with the love of God for His Creation and the glimmer of the promise that death WILL NOT have the final say.
But in the meantime, before our Lord returns to judge and restore all things, we echo the words of the generations of faithful men and women who have walked through the deepest darkness:
How long, LORD, must I call for help and You do not listen or cry out to You about violence and You do not save? (Habakkuk 1:2)
I pray that Wendy and the children are able to fully and deeply grieve the loss of the man they love so much with an authenticity that does justice to the hurt, anger and sadness they will feel over the coming months…and years.
I pray that they will not be met with glib or cliche attempts at cheering them up (“God needed another angel in Heaven…”, “The pretties flowers are the ones that get picked…”, etc.), but rather, that they will be surrounded by a community of friends and family who know that sometimes the best thing to say to those who hurt is nothing at all…but just to be there with them and enter into their grief alongside them.
I pray that the people who have come to know and be inspired by #FranksFight will realize just how precious life is and how much of a blessing it is to have a family that loves them through thick and then…and that they will never take their own loved ones for granted.
I pray that just as the MMA community rallied around #FranksFight and poured out their love and support to him and to Wendy, we would also rally around and support others among us who are fighting the same enemy.
I pray that in some way, somehow, Wendy and the children would feel the love of God for Frank and for each of them despite the deep pain of loss they feel at his passing.
I pray that everyone who knew Frank and was touched by his life would continue to speak of him, to remember him, to laugh at the funny things he said and did, and to celebrate his life in a way that continues to bring joy into theirs.
“Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.” (Romans 12:15)
Blessings from the Dojo,
JM
Categories: Blog, Martial Arts, Ministry