I was sitting in the parking lot outside the gym this morning…looking over my Facebook feed, of course…when I saw this horrifying picture and article.
By way of contrast: The Cubs won. The election is next Tuesday. Bills need to be paid. Work needs to be done. The news isn’t good on many fronts.
But then there is Jessica, the 4-year old girl with terminal cancer in this gut wrenching picture and article.
I talk to God when I encounter these kinds of things. My words are usually jumbled as I approach His throne with my questions…my complaints…and finally, my contrition.
She will be in His presence within days. The cancer will be gone. She will be free and happy and healed. Her father and mother and family and friends will be left behind with a gaping hole in their hearts.
Do they have Christ to lean on? To question? To yell at? To find hope and healing in? I don’t know.
The pain and brokenness in this world is hard to take in. Hard to process. Hard to put to bed. But God has given us answers. Not all of them, of course, but enough of them. It helps to ease the pain, but doesn’t eliminate it.
He didn’t promise us an immediate way out, but a way through. He told us there would be trouble…heartache…and death. He told us that He could be trusted with all of it if we had the faith to believe. That someday, it would all make sense. That someday, all of this mess would be replaced by endless majesty.
Sickness? Banished.
Pain? Banished.
Heartache? Banished.
Disappointment? Banished.
Joy? Everlasting.
Happiness? Everlasting.
Fellowship? Everlasting.
Peace? Everlasting.
I cling to this hope everyday. Some days it is in the distance…a warm glow that I feel when I turn towards it. On other days…darker days…I cry out for it in quiet yet resolute words and longings and prayers.
By faith, I choose to believe. He has made His case, made it plainly, and it is strong. My intellect understands it. My emotions rest in it. My will chooses it. It’s not always easy…but yet, it remains.
Toda,y I will thank Him. Today, I will pray for Jessica and her family. Today, I will pray for a boy named Harrison and his family as they battle childhood cancer. Today, I will try to be a loving husband, father, friend, teacher, and radio host. Today, I will lean, once again, on my loving Savior, Master, and Friend. Today, I will trust Him with my tears and questions and frustration and pain. And today…like yesterday…and tomorrow…He will be there for me.
I hope you know Him, too. If not, let me know. I would be honored to introduce you to Him.
