Wednesday, November 02, 2005

More News 'n' Thoughts

I found out today that:
Jeff has lots of broken bones but they are cautiously optimistic that he will survive/recover.
The accident was caused by a 55-year-old man in a pickup who crossed the median and collided head-on with Jeff's extended-cab pickup.
Carolyn is expecting a baby in 6 weeks.

When life is this raw and painful, we have three theological options:
1. There is no God.
2. There is a God but he is capricious, distant, or cruel.
3. There is a God and he is involved and loving even when it doesn't seem like it.

With any option we still feel the pain and loss. But only with the third can we have hope and avoid utter despair.

We have, probably like many families, been reliving our own near-misses. There was the time we hit a moose and our van burned up. I remember how desperately I counted the children afterwards, over and over.

Then there was the time an overloaded semi truck in Kenya swerved into our lane and headed right toward us. We avoided a head-on crash by mere inches and escaped with nothing worse than Ben's broken arm.

"God's mercy," we said at the time. Can our faith wrap around this tragedy and still believe in God's grace and mercy?

7 comments:

  1. I don't know these people at all, but they have been in my thoughts and prayers continually since I heard about it on your blog. Both yahoo news and abc.com had lengthy articles about the incident.

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  2. Jeff would be a second cousin to me. Dad's been keeping me informed with news articles he got off the internet. We've been praying for them here in Bradford. I can't imagine.....

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  3. I contacted the hospital this morning, inquirying about sending emails to Schrocks (and the Helms family also, for that matter).

    They said: "You can send messages to this address and we will be happy to print them out and take them to the Schrocks."

    The address is: pr@shmc.org

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  4. Mark--what a great idea. Thanks.

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  5. Can our faith wrap around this tragedy and still believe in God's grace and mercy?

    Thats the big question. I dont believe our human minds can ever fully wrap around this tragedy but faith is a different matter. Faith, on the very basis that it's FAITH, believes things unbelievable by our finite minds. If we truly have faith than we must believe that God is gracious and merciful.

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  6. Your three options about our faith in God after a tragedy like this is something to think about. We could also say that when tragedies happen, especially of this magnitude, we can be ever so thankful that Jesus did not leave us comfortless, that He came to set the captives free, which is exactly what we would be if we had no hope in Christ. To know that all of those children are safe in the arms of Jesus, and that Jeff and Caroline are experiencing the grace and strength from God that He promised, is comfort beyond description.

    Yes, God is good. He is all wise and loving. He is our security when our worlds come crashing in on us. It is during tragedies that our faith grows because that is when we most clearly see His face.

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  7. Quote:
    ""God's mercy," we said at the time. Can our faith wrap around this tragedy and still believe in God's grace and mercy?"

    I have no other way to deal with such incomprehensible occurances in life. If in this life we have our hope, we become miserable and remain lost.

    I agree with Mrs. Darling, it comes down to our Faith in God and in His Son, Jesus Christ. If we rely on human logic, we will be crushed by these humanly inconprehensible incidents in life.

    We need, yea we must always, learn to live with eternity in our hearts and minds as we serve here amid the hurt and suffering that affects us all; knowing and believing that God sees the end from the beginning, and works His will and love in our lives. If in this life only we have hope, great is our misery and darkness.

    Thanks be to God for the Victory over death we have in Christ!

    May God grant to Jeff and Carolyn His Grace and Peace that defies understanding, but brings so much light and comfort in the midst of life's darkest times.

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