Some thoughts I have, and they might be unfinished...

In the wake of unexplained tragedy, I have some thoughts...

I wonder why our coping mechanisms for most things in life are based on having an explanation for what has happened. I wonder why having reasons for things is the quickest way to closure.

I know, I know...the answers are quick. Reasons and explanations allow us to see the whole picture, but they don't always give us the 'why.' Do they? They just give us what they are...reasons. I'm also not sure the reasons equal 'why.'

Why did the glass break? Because I dropped it, right? Well, dropping something breakable might be the reason it broke, but it doesn't answer all the matters of physics and science that help us understand why it broke.

Maybe the bigger issue is that whether or not I know the reasons or the 'why,' the glass is still broken. So, now what? I guess all that's left to do is pick up the pieces.

And that's where we find ourselves now...trying to pick up the pieces, right? A kid dies in a car accident, and we don't...know...why...

We're not even sure where God was active then? We weren't there. I can tell you where we are though...

...we are here...

...now...

and the good news is that so is God, and we have this amazing opportunity to see God trying to make a big pitcher of lemonade out of the lemons of life. And if we see God working now, then as time passes, we can look into the past and be able to answer some questions (not all of them). Most importantly, if we understand God to be active now, in this situation, we can trust God to be active in the future.

I'm not going to do the minor dis-service of giving some highly thought out theological reasons for why bad things happen. Or even why things happen in general. It may help, but it may not. It never did for me because ultimately, I'd run into a situation that didn't quite fit into the explanation that I was given.

Here are some things I do know though:

Jesus promised us that he'd be with us until the end of the age, but I'd like to eat some wings or something with him sometime, because sometimes that whole 'faith that he's there' thing is just a little too much. But despite my feelings on the matter, Jesus' promises are true and perfect and these are the times to take Jesus at his word. I don't know how it works...

...it just does...

So, please take the time to grieve. Take some time to cry. Be mad at God, He can take it :) But please, don't spend all your time grieving. And don't spend all your time crying. Make sure that some time is taken to see God bringing healing into the situation. If you feel and scraped your knee, it would hurt, but it would start healing immediately.

So, we all may just be scabs for a while...that's okay...

...because healing is a process, and is never immediate...

God loves you