On Suffering…

This week has been a heavy week for my young family.  Monday morning, as was posted earlier this week, we were hit with the news that Pastor Jack Fancy passed away (for more detail see previous entry); as the news from this was marinating, we received word that my wife’s grandfather was taking his last breath’s.  He has been struggling in this state ever since, and the entire family is in this place of limbo, waiting for him to pass.  

In the midst of all of this, seeing people grieve the loss of pastor Fancy, and seeing the utter torment my wife’s family has gone through playing this waiting game, kind of bracing for impact, like when you know you are going to get hit hard, and you tighten up your whole body waiting for the blow… My wife’s family have been waiting to exhale (wow, shameless Whitney Houston shout out in the midst of a heavy post..comic relief anyone?) since monday, and they continue to wait… Seeing this throughout the week has led me to think, and question and wrestle continuously…

Here is what I am coming to understand in the midst of grief…

1. It’s not God’s fault the world is the way it is, death and suffering was never His intention… HE IS a good, and doesn’t want us to have to suffer, but alas, here we are, and we all have to face it…fortunately He is the God who wants to face it down with us.

2. There is a power present in Christian suffering that literally mocks the power of death and the problem of evil… There is a power in the idea that death is not the final word… there is a power in the fact that 500 people stood in the KVWC church yesterday and literally celebrated the life of an amazing man, and in a mysterious way, the death of this man, brought life and inspiration to all of us who were there to respect and remember.  And there is a power in spite of the pain when a family is in a place to be able to wish, hope and embrace the death of one of the most beloved human beings I have ever met.. Beloved by his kids, grandkids, in-laws, fellow mariner’s, friends, even medical staff, because the entire family KNOWS that death is not the end… That we will meet again, and nothing, no moment, or memory will be lost, in it… Death is not the final word.

3. I realized we who are faced with evil/ suffering (this is all of us) have choices as to how we proceed into the future. We can become Bitter from what we have lost, or we can become Better for what we have gained/ learned/ or experienced through suffering.  And though it is easy through loss to start counting up all the things we don’t have, to get greedy, we have to press through suffering and come out the other side gracious and thankful for what we DO have, and what we have been given, what we have experienced, and that there is a hope for humanity that goes far past the darkest of evils in this world, even death…

So as my wife and my family continues to face this trial, here is to hope that God will one day put this broken world to rights and here is to being all the more thankful for the many wonderful gifts I have been given, and making a point to celebrate them each day.