Remembering Rachel- Part 1

Rachel.

The person I called for almost everything.

A reliable friend.

Someone who helped everyone, all the time.

An excellent teacher.

Someone who was always working on another language to learn.

The friend I told things to that I would never tell anyone else.

The one who would always remind me to look to Christ.

The person I had a lot of plans with for the future.

It was going to be so great.

But then the Lord called her home.  My heart is broken that she is gone.  Without warning, my friend went home to be with Jesus.

I miss her dearly.

I want to honor her memory.  I want people to know how great she was, and how her life truly honored the Lord.  I don't want to forget how wonderful it was to have her as part of my life.

Rachel and I met when we were first year teachers.  We were both crazy enough to take a job in a ghetto school.  I mean it was terrible.  It was right between 2 high poverty housing projects.

During the first days of pre-planning, Rachel and I were in the same "new teachers" meeting.  Mind you, out of maybe 25 or 30 teachers at the school, about 15 were first year brand new teachers.  Warning sign #1 that we should never have taken a job in that school.  As we were in the meeting, we were told that they would not be able to help us if we didn't tell them how we needed help.  Rachel piped up and said "excuse me, but how are we supposed to know what we need help on if we are first year teachers and don't know what we don't know".  That very second I began to like Rachel a lot. :) It was after the meeting that our friendship began to blossom.

School started and it was crazy.  We dealt with behaviors that you would never think a small child would exhibit.  Many many days we spent time after school in one another's classroom venting about what we had dealt with that day.

As I got to know Rachel, one thing that became evident was the absence of the Lord in her life.  2 other co-workers and myself began to pray for her.  Eventually, I invited her to church.  She started to come with me. At the end of the school year, Rachel accepted Jesus as her personal Savior.  It is because of that decision that she's with the Lord now.

I miss Rachel, a lot.  I've picked up my phone several times since she's passed to call her. I'll always miss her.  Always.  But I know that when it's my turn to meet Jesus, Rachel will be there waiting for me.

So you might be reading this thinking that you don't care about the ins and outs of my friendship with Rachel. That's not the point of writing several blog posts about her.  I want to convey what kind of person she was, and I hope I can do her justice.

To Rachel, my sweet friend, I will always miss you.