When Tragedy Strikes

I woke up this morning to some terrible news. The daughter of one of the youth group kids I love so much was killed in a 4-wheeler accident. What do I even say?

Let's start at the beginning I guess. We live in a fallen world. There is pain and suffering, death and mourning. I get that. But why does it have to touch our children?

One of the 'waypoints' in MY faith journey was the death of another young girl in our community - Cora Jones. Her death was just as tragic and just as hard to understand.

At Cora's death, I was not a believer at the time. I was angry with God so I guess I believed to some extent but there was bitterness in my heart.

"How could God allow such a thing to happen?"

That's the usual question. So, what's the answer? 

The thing we need to remember is that this "life" here in earth is short. It's temporary. According to the Bible we all will live forever. It's just a matter of where - heaven or hell.

"To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord." - 2 Corinthians 5:8

So my young friend's daughter is still living. Just not here. Our minds cannot escape 'the here and now.' We are stuck. Unless, we embrace Christ.

Jesus is where we find hope. It is His grace and mercy that gives us that hope. And it is His abundant love that provides all of those things.

I wish my friend was not suffering such a tragic loss. But . . . 

"God works all things together for the good of those who love Him." - Romans 8:28

So the real question becomes, "Do we love Him, and trust Him, and surrender all things into His hands?"

And that is a question we all must answer for ourselves. Before it's too late to change our minds.