I love you and miss you Trey Robert Freeman! You brought me more joy than you will ever know. I miss everything about you…your laugh, your smile, your dimple like mine, your heart for Jesus, your love for your brothers and sisters…and on and on! I’m counting down the days until I see you again. I love you buddy. You will always be my hero!!! Forever!!!
It’s incredibly hard to believe that Trey has been with the Lord for one month as of today. I just can’t believe it. Time is flying. I know that Trey is no longer bound by time and that he is so enjoying himself in the presence of God. It’s awesome to think that he’s with the Lord!
Today was my first Sunday back at church. It was an emotionally draining morning, but the Spirit of the Lord was with us. I felt God move in our midst in a mighty way. As the song says, “Though there’s pain in the offering, blessed be Your name.” I pray the name of the Lord was lifted high.
My church family is just awesome…plain and simple. I’m so blessed to be their pastor. They welcomed us back with a very warm reception. I love you FBC Newcastle.
Any way, I’m easing back into things this week. Please keep praying for us. We are still grieving very deeply, but trusting God to heal our hearts. We miss our son so very much. We love you Trey and you will never be forgotten.
I’m grateful to God for the grace He provided this very day. Lord, help us to keep breathing!
Emily and I gave a picture to each of our children with them and Trey. I put a picture of Aubrey and Trey in Aubrey’s room and when she saw it today, she’s been carrying it around with her everywhere. She hasn’t put it down. This picture says it all…she misses her brother!
I’m sitting at the soccer fields watching one of my older sons practice. As I sit here, I’m remembering that I only got to watch Trey play 2 soccer games last fall. He loved soccer and it always brought him so much joy. He would just smile running up and down the fields. Oh how I miss watching him run. When he scored last season, you would have thought he’d won a million dollars. He just had so much fun and loved life.
Life is less sweet Trey…but we are trying buddy…we are trying! I know you’d want us to have joy and I know it will come. I love you Trey…you will always and forever be my hero.
And don’t worry…I won’t tell the girl you like that you liked her…that will always be our secret :-)
This time last year our church was in the middle of the biggest crusade in its history. On the Wednesday morning of See You at the Pole, lots and lots of students surrounded every flag pole in Newcastle. In fact, we had see you at the pole every morning of the crusade. We had students meeting and praying every morning of the week. It was truly amazing.
On the final night of the crusade, we had around 1,200 in attendance and saw well over 100 people saved, with nearly 200 saved for the week! Needless to say, it was an awesome time…a time I will never forget.
However, on the last night of the Crusade, Emily remembers Trey being unusually tired, so he laid his head in her lap during the sermon time. She also remembers him feeling a little warm. It was just a couple of days after the crusade that Trey began to get sick…and it was the next week that he would first be admitted into the hospital. It is hard to believe it all began right around this time last year…I still just cannot believe Trey is gone.
I keep thinking the pain is going to get better every day…but the truth is, it seems harder…especially since everything all began right around this time last year. Keep praying for us. I begin preaching again this Sunday at FBC Newcastle. It will be strange looking out from the pulpit and seeing my family…but not seeing Trey. I still envision him sitting in the pew next to Emily playing with an action figure or two trying to listen to my sermon. Who knows…I may preach with a Superman action figure on the pulpit this Sunday.
Truly, I am eager to see my church family…but the day will be emotionally challenging I’m sure. I do plan to share what God has been teaching us over the past few weeks, as well as where I plan to take our church over the next few months.This Sunday will also mark 1 month…4 weeks…that my precious son has been with the Lord. I cannot believe it has already been 1 month.
Feel free to join us at FBC Newcastle this Sunday. I will need as much as support as possible. Thank you for praying for our family and for supporting us in such wonderful ways. We love you!
I’m mindful of this truth today:
“I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better (Philippians 1:23).”
Trey experiences that which is “FAR BETTER!” Oh how I long to see what he sees and behold the One he beholds. My prayer today is that I would live in light of eternity…setting my mind ONLY on things above. May we all remember today that nothing this world offers even remotely comes close to what we will have in eternity with Christ!
Even so…come Lord Jesus!
Someone pointed me to this picture today…what I’d give to know what they were talking about then and what I’d give to see Trey walking with his friends now! One day…one day I will see clearly…
From Emily…my wife and Trey’s wonderful mother:
3 weeks have passed since Trey left his earthly body behind. He needed to leave it behind bc it was worn out in every way possible. And now as he “mounts up on wings as eagles, runs without growing weary, walks and does not faint,” I only wish I could watch him go!!! 3 weeks… and I find that my heart is just as broken and the weight of loss is just as heavy…
This is how it feels to lose a child…the pain at times threatens to suffocate me…yet I continue to breath… Whether I want to or not. My heart has been ripped from my body…yet I must somehow go on. And amidst all these overwhelming feelings at war within me, there is a RENEWED FOCUS.
Over the past year of suffering, God has slowly shifted my focus..until it reached a sudden climax 3 weeks ago. It was so sudden, that it knocked the wind completely out of me and I’m still learning to recover….
This shift was a shift in focus from the temporary to the eternal…a shift from things that do not last to things that last forever…a shift from things that matter to me to things that matter to God.
My precious 7 yr old has stepped into eternity! He has stepped into forever! Just thinking about that is staggering for the human mind. Yet, it will happen to all of us (Hebrews 9:27). We will all step into eternity at some point. And it could very well be TODAY. That makes TODAY the most important of your life. TODAY is the day for eternal perspective. TODAY is the day your eternity could be decided!! (There r only 2 options-Luke 16:19-31) From the bottom of my heart, please make sure your eternity is secure in Jesus Christ! TODAY!!
I love you Trey! Can’t wait to spend my eternity with you!!!
We took our children to the fair today…again, trying to be normal when nothing really is normal. It was hard. The last time we were at the fair, Trey was with us…full of life and energy. He would have loved so many things today.
At one point today, my kids were on a ride with Emily and I was watching our stuff…when all of a sudden, something hit me. As I looked around, I became startling aware of the fact that for the rest of my life, I am going to have to choose to live. I am going to have to choose to be happy. These things will no longer come naturally to me. I am going to have to choose to see the beauty in things even though part of me does not want to. I am going to have to choose to enjoy my kids and pour myself into them every day, even though part of me will not want to. The biggest choice of all though…everyday…will be to choose to die to self and let the Lord live through me. That’s the only way I will make it. It will have to be His joy living through my surrendered life. But as the song says, “Surrender does not come natural to me.” I will have to choose daily to surrender everything to Jesus…which of course, will be a battle.
I know that the days I allow the Lord to live through me will be good days…and the days I don’t, well…they will be tough. I know that in Christ, I am an overcomer…a victor…a conqueror! I also know that apart from Him, I can do nothing. The choice will be mine to make every day, and I just pray God gives me the grace and strength to choose Him over myself.
Everything in life is less sweet without Trey. It’s amazing how even the most basic things are not as enjoyable anymore. I assume that will get better over time, but right now it’s hard to fully enjoy anything. I know Trey is fine…perfect and healed, and he’d probably want me to not feel this way, but it’s just where I am right now. It’s so hard not having him here. I know I’ll see him again; I know I’ll get all of eternity with him…but in the here and now, it hurts. He was my buddy! He brought me such tremendous joy! I miss him so very much! Trey, your mom and I love you and we can’t want to see you.
pastorjfreeman 