An Excerpt from “Sacred Belonging” – Red Letter Christians

We got the news late one Sunday morning in mid-July that my father-in-law had died unexpectedly.

The phone rang loudly that day. Not only did the noise startle my spouse, Taylor, and me as we prepared to head out to grab lunch, but it also disrupted our lives—steering us in an unexpected direction—the way those dreaded phone calls always do. As soon as Taylor answered, we knew it was bad news. His grandfather’s words pulsed through the phone like a heartbeat: “It’s your dad. He’s gone. I’m so sorry.” I felt my heart sink deep into my body, where our daughter had been growing for seven months. Taylor’s pale skin began losing its pink hue, the room starkly silent, except for his shallow breathing. I threw my arms around his chest as if to catch him, but my pregnant belly got in the way. After he hung up the phone, we lingered for what seemed like hours before Taylor packed up the car and made the difficult drive to the small country house where his father had…