I thought about this conference of young professionals and said young families.

I don't see a lot of kids.

I'm assuming young moms, young dads as well as young professionals.

And the opportunity to speak to you this morning on what to expect on your journey home, my mind went back 12 years.

My wife and I were deeply embedded in a young adult, young professional community,

in a local church, Bethlehem Baptist Church in downtown Minneapolis.

And on January 10th, 2013, that community of young professionals, young moms, young dads,

singles gathered for the funeral service of a five-month-old.

His name was Henrik and his father, Michael, and mother Emily were the dearest of friends of my wife and I.

And they had found out in an ultrasound, the previous April,

that something wasn't right in utero,

some event had happened during the pregnancy.

Henrik survived his birth in July, but clearly he was weak.

It wasn't going to be long. They didn't know how long he would live. It might be just hours

or days or weeks. It turned out to be months. He made it five months and died in January,

and we had the funeral. For my wife and for me and many of our

closest friends, this was our first unshielded adult encounter with the pains of life in this fallen age.

Now, I know tragically, some of you have experienced that in your childhood.

Others are shielded as children and maybe even shielded as teens and as college students,

but sooner or later, the real sorrows,

the real sufferings of this life come crashing in.

Let me read you a section from the eulogy I gave 12 years ago at the funeral of Henrik.

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