I believe that the Lord is sovereign.
I believe he has unlimited power, unlimited knowledge, all the love, and that he is everywhere at once.
Because he knows everything, he knows what is best for me.
Because he loves unshakingly, he cannot be out for our hurt.
Because he has all the power, he will not allow things go wound me past healing. I do believe that!
And I believe that the power of the blood of Christ shed on the cross is powerful enough not only to save me from my sins, but also to reverse the effect of sin and death in my life. I do believe that!
But how do I reconcile those beliefs with the truth that David Gray died too young after 2 1/2 years of suffering from chemo and intolerable pain? (I am talking about the former Covenant College Catacombian, not the "White Ladder" British singer.)
How do I reconcile that with the fact that L's dad died a week before school started, swept out to sea while picking oysters? L is just 10.
How do I reconcile that with the fact that M's dad died a little less than a year ago; M is just 14?
How do I reconcile that with the fact that A's mom died just a week ago? She was old and full of years, but still...
How do I reconcile that with the fact that _____ died in Iraq, leaving behind _____? (Fill in the blank--I just want to honor all our soldiers who died obeying their military orders.)
How do I reconcile that with the fact that people get so convined we are right about what we believe that we go out of our way to hurt one another? We may hurt one another with planed slammed into skyscrapers, with planes dropping bombs, or with our words, cutting into each other just as painfully and devastatingly as the September 11th planes.
How do I?
And...how do I teach my students that our words and actions are as devastating as the September 11 planes? That we may point our fingers at "those horrible terrorists" but must not neglect to examine our own lives and begin the war on terrorism in our own hearts and minds, and the terrorism that we wage on one another? How do I? Can I ever really make a difference?
Posted by at September 23, 2003 06:44 PM | TrackBack