Grace Amid Tragedy

People who have experienced tragedy or suffering or loss - we are a peculiar fraternity.

Nobody really wants to belong to this fraternity; yet, here we are because very few escape it.

Beginning to die of Cancer was the start of my suffering; it continued with being betrayed within the Body of Christ...twice. 
While everyone suffers differently, somehow when there is a deep tragedy or an event which causes severe suffering, it is often understood by many despite its uniqueness. 

A man suffers emotionally because his wife commits adultery, not once but repeatedly as a lifestyle choice.
A woman suffers because she lost her only child to a bacterial infection.
Christians massacred by ISIS or shot for their faith in Oregon; either way they have died a martyr's death.
Each of these, know suffering and grief albeit different types.
Some individually, others are corporately among the Church itself.

At times, it is better to let our grief and anger out; at other times it is not.
Similar to a soldier or Airman returning home from the war, we often struggle knowing how to fit in again or even where we might fit in.

If confronted with tragedy and it is not your own, know that God has placed you there in that time for a reason.
Millions of Christians have watched the faithful be murdered half-way around the globe. Dutifully, we have prayed for them, interceded for them and sent support to them. Now, that same wickedness has happened within the Continental United States in the clearest of terms.

Christians are often told we exclude other faiths from the public square or intimidate minority faiths; to that may I quote my father? 
Horse Hockey.

While the initial reaction is to take up arms against other faiths, the Christian is not called to a Holy War as the Knight Templar of old; we do not achieve Heaven by dying in a fight against infidels.

We are the arms and feet of a Risen Savior; and if we are a part of suffering or tragedy that belongs to someone else, then God has placed us there to dispense the grace He has given us.

Those that have lost family members or friends in Oregon, Virginia Tech, Aurora or even as distant as Columbine, they know that in time, whatever has been lost cannot be replace or 'gotten over.'
But I do know that the pain will become less...one day.

The victims and their families will never forget, and although it may seem distant in the future, one day, they will laugh again, love again and feel joy once again.

In deep grief, regardless of what has caused it, nothing comes easy.
One must accept that people who do not understand will indeed say insensitive things; it took me a long time to realize this.

In looking to the shootings and tragedies that are becoming common in America, let me say that I do not believe it is a gun issue; rather I do believe it is a mental health issue.
No right thinking human being desires to kill the innocent or murder children; nor do they seek to harm any person of any faith simply because they worship differently.

No, that is insanity and nothing more and nothing else.

These tragedies that we've experienced together on a national scale the last 20 years tell us that we are not promised by God that we will always be protected.
The sin of man runs deep and the fruit of that sin in violence resulting in grief and suffering.

None, not one, on this planet are exempted from tragedy; all people will die, some old, some young.
But God give and provides His support through His Spirit and His Church; it may not be the protection we want, but it is to be desired.
For while these things evoking suffering and pain cannot be stopped; they can be redeemed.

We must remember in our losses, even God suffered the loss of a Son.

Christians changed the world we it came to loss and grieving.
Once there were pagan mausoleums around the globe; the Christian opted for cemeteries, which literally means, 'sleeping place.'
The indication is clear → the Christian may die in his body, but he will rise again; this is hope restored and a message to all who hurt and suffer in this life.

At the end of the Book of Job, Job himself receives double everything he has lost; except one thing - his children.
The message is of the value of a human being; humans cannot be replaced like sheep or cattle, we are unique to God.

On earth, those whom we love, we keep them alive in our memories.
Yet, the Christian trusts God to do much more; not merely to keep alive a memory but to resurrect and bring new life to a person whom we love and He loves.

We often say that all things will pass away and Christ will make all things new; in a sense, this is true.
But I tend to think of it as Christ redeeming everything to how it was meant to be from the beginning. 
Instead of living with this 'foreign' order, Jesus Himself will return everything to that which we do not know; He'll return it to how it was meant to be.

No death.
No grief.
No suffering.
No shootings.
No Cancer.

Until that time, we are to extend Christ's compassion to the hurting and suffering and grief stricken, as though He is reaching to them Himself through our bodies.

And guess what?
He is.


Until next time, win one for the good guys.