Did God Really Need Him?

"Boise Mom, I Guess God Needed Him Back." Those were the headlines on the front page of Sunday's paper. What followed was an extremely tragic story of a three year old developmentally delayed toddler who was quick on his feet, fascinated with doors, and bright lights. All three attributes contributed to him opening an unlocked door in the morning twilight, racing towards a busy street and tragically darting into the path of an unsuspecting car.

The police ruled the toddler's death an accident. The emotional damage to his mom and the driver of the car is immeasurable. I often tell people at the time of death that we get through it, but we never get over it. Acceptance of death, is a season of living with the loss without it continually destroying us.

In the mean time coping with the loss is extremely tough and sometimes so tough we that seek to console ourselves with some type of God reference. People may try to comfort us by saying something about God's purpose or plan in the tragedy. They may quote Romans 8:28,"That all things work together for the good for those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose," or as the Boise Mom said, "I guess God needed him back."

That a young child whose life tragically taken by an automobile, may be spending eternity with a loving God, is a comforting. The eternal destiny question is huge at times like these and it is equally important to stress the love and mercy and grace of God over some concept of sin judgment.

However I find little or no comfort in the thought that "God needed him back." My first response to that line is "For What?" What purpose or divine activity of God could not be completed without the presence of this toddler's soul? To even think that God orchestrated this tragic accident in order to gain the resources of this child, would make me want to have nothing to do with God. If the resources of this child were truly needed, if I were God I think I could have found a better way to tap them than this. I am also bothered by the concept of a needy God, but that may be the subject of another blog.

I also know during times like these that the assumption is that God should have done something. God should have intervened, but God stood by motionless, and let the convergence of a toddler's tendencies, the morning's twilight light, and a commuter going the speed limit take place. An angelic hand restraining the child till his frantic mother arrived, or a little bit faster response time with the driver swerving a split second faster, would have done it. Why didn't God do something rather than nothing? Divine interventions are extremely rare. Since we come across them in the Bible we almost assume they are to be expected. The cross still stands as the supreme symbol of God's non-intervention, a fact acknowledged by the one hung on it when he said," My God my God what have You forsaken me?"

If Jesus could still find enough strength to commend his spirit into the hands of a non-intervening God at his moment death, and given the fact that Jesus had every reason to abandon the God he felt had abandoned him but didn't, is comforting. To also know that God the Father also witnessed the convergence of forces which lead to the death of His Son is also comforting. In Jesus God both knew what it was like to be innocent and suffer under the forces of this world, and what it is like to stand and watch the innocent suffer. I too find that comforting. We may never know why God doesn't intervene more to relieve the suffering and death of innocents. We do know that it did not diminish the trust Jesus had in this God.

God did resurrect the life of Jesus,and the good news for us is that God can resurrect our life too after a tragedy. It may take longer than three days, but we can trust God to give us life back again as well.

Angel Wings

"You had angel wings." I had never heard that expression used before, but I knew what she meant. While cycling downhill at a fairly high speed, I lost control of my bike, and crashed. The bike struck a metal reflector pole, while my body grazed it as I flipped and landed on my helmet covered head. For a fall of such magnitude I escaped with relatively few scrapes and bruises. The bike is another matter. When I told this story to a friend who works at a bike shop, she said, "You had angel wings."

In my gut I knew it could have ended quite differently. In actuality this was a near death experience, and for some reason God had preserved my life. I know a statement like that might be troubling to some, and I make it with a great deal of hesitation. I know that it sounds like God singled me out to have my life preserved, while there are others who may not have experienced the hand of God that way. I know of fellow cyclists whose lives were lost in crashes and car accidents. The whole question of why me and not others raises its head. Why I was spared the consequences of a broken imperfect world while others are not is a mystery. It is tempting to think that God has something great or special yet for me to do. I have spoken with some people who have interpreted their near death experiences that way. There are some who have used their near death experiences as a second chance at life. Tragically, I knew one person who was still wondering what great thing God had spared him for, while he died of cancer.

Whether God has something great for me yet to do, is up to God. I am still trying do what God has asked of me at this moment, and I am not egotistical enough to think that there is something far greater than what I am currently doing. Impacting lives for eternity is huge regardless of where one does it. Which brings us back to the reason God preserved my life.

It has been said that the problem with atheism is that you don't have anyone to thank. Thankfully I do.

Faith in the Wilderness

On a recent backpacking trip with my son, Chris, I discovered that fishing is never the same in the same spot, even using the same lures. We had fished this incredible high mountain lake in the Soldier mountain area of the Frank Church Wilderness. I was using a Panther Martin lure- bright yellow with black dots and a red feather skirt at the base near the hooks. Within a span of an hour I must have landed close to twenty fish. I took so many (and threw them back) that we jokingly said I Pantherized them. After fishing for several hours we packed up and hiked to another lake where we spent the night. The next day after bushwacking to another lake, we returned to this same lake. The water was crystal clear. You could see the trout swimming around nabbing a fly here or there. However try as I might, they would not even acknowledge the panther. Cast after cast after cast and no takers. I began using a variety of lures. I think I tried just about everything in my arsenal. The end result is that we caught only a few fish, and none of them on that yellow panther martin.

I was reminded just how fast things change. Same lake, same fish, same lure, different results. What I needed was a new lure. Something fresh, perhaps a different color scheme.

I used to write and color in my Bible a lot. I have several Bibles filled with sermon notes, Bible study insights, and quiet time reflections. I don't write or color in my Bible anymore. Things change, and change rapidly, and when they do, a note or color or an insight a year or so old may not be of any assistance. By focusing my attention towards what I had read and understood previously, it may actually hinder the word from God I need to hear from getting through to me. If every minute of every day is truly a fresh page, I found I need a fresh page of scripture, to be able to hear a fresh word.