 |
| Cheryl Joyner* |
He
slipped in behind us at the memorial for our friend who lost her battle with
cancer. In the few short years
that I had known him, he had changed from a sweet little boy of 8 or 9 into a
handsome man in the making of 15. Less than two weeks later Doug and I sat,
watching the sanctuary fill up with a thousand hurting hearts – gathering to
commemorate the life he took in “a terrible tragic moment.”
 |
| Robert "Tex" Higginbotham, Jr.* |
Attending two memorial services in less than one month generates sorrow and bewilderment.
Asking
why is not wrong, the pastor said. But from whence we seek the answers is key:
conventional wisdom and common sense often aggravate the pain. And when we look
inside ourselves, the answers are often a painful dead-end. What we find there is too often guilt,
fear, shame, and humiliation, as well as anger, anguish, and confusion – the
fruit of the mankind’s Fall. (Genesis 3)
Some
may say, “All I can say about
Christians: You people will believe anything.” (Randall Dean, Dallas Morning
News, Letter, February 4, 2014)
Did God really
say .
. .? I believe God did say many
things that bear on our sorrows, and answer our hearts’ deepest cry. And I believe that seeking Him in the
midst of nightmares such as cancer and suicide is the only answer to this
anguish. (1
Chronicles 16:11)
Christians
believe there is a purpose and hope in every human life that is created – that
an infinite and personal God rules and reigns, and one day, death and sorrow
will cease. (Psalm 139:13-16; Romans 8:28, 37-39; Revelation 21:1-5) The family
whose child -- brother, nephew, grandson – acted impulsively and wrongly,
testified nevertheless to the gift this young man’s life was to them and us –
and to the gift that God’s Son and Spirit are to them.
And
as if by special delivery, I received an e-mail meditation from one who knows a
bit about suffering:
Does God ordain?
Permit? Plan? Allow? The verb is not so much the important thing as the noun:
God. And God is love.
Your ways are higher than mine, Lord, and Your thoughts are
unsearchable. I praise You that one day You will give us the key that will
unlock sense out of seemingly senseless suffering. ~ Joni Eareckson
Tada
Who do people say I am, the Lord asked
of His disciples – who do you
say I am? (Matthew
16)
No comments:
Post a Comment