a poem

So, my church is doing a series on Psalms for the summer. It's been a good series. One of the things they have been encouraging the congregation to do is to write their own psalms. That's what this is . . . my psalm . . . coming out of some thoughts that have been going through my mind in recent days.


O Lord, you say you are good
and worthy of my trust.
But why, O Lord, do you allow
such troubles in this world?
A little life filled with pain and illness;
then taken from this earth -
Far too young to suffer so;
Much too young to die.

O Lord, you say you are good
and worthy of my trust.
But why, O Lord, do you allow
such troubles in this world?
A young father stops to help another
and is killed in an instant.
A young mother and children left behind.
He was much too young to die.

O Lord, you say you are good
and worthy of my trust.
But why, O Lord, do you allow
such troubles in this world?
Two young lives snuffed out –
Before they really began to live;
And yet, in their deaths,
They touch so many more.

O Lord, you say you are good
and worthy of my trust.
But why, O Lord, do you allow
such troubles in this world?
A young woman, been through so much;
life is finally looking normal.
And then the bad news comes:
the cancer has returned.

O Lord, you say you are good
and worthy of my trust.
But why, O Lord, do you allow
such troubles in this world?
A car accident - the car is totalled;
they should both be dead.
Your angels sure protected them,
for out they climb uninjured.

O Lord, you say you are good
and worthy of my trust.
But why, O Lord, do you allow
such troubles in this world?
Why are some saved,
while others seems to suffer so?
Why do you answer prayers to heal
for some, but not for others?

O Lord, you say you are good
and worthy of my trust.
But why, O Lord, do you allow
such troubles in this world?
Your reasons I may not understand;
My questions not be answered -
Yet I will choose to believe
that you, O Lord are good
and worthy of my trust.


So, that's it. My psalm. Nothing more to say.

sometimes life isn't fair

Sometimes things happen in life that make you really think. One of those things happened to me today. The son of some friends of mine died . . . at about 2 - 1/2 years old. Now, up to this point life had not been easy for this little boy, with much of his life to date spent in Children's Hospital. But, it still just doesn't seem right when a little boy is gone - long before anyone would say that his time on earth should have been over. The huge positive is that his suffering is over, but it also means that his parents are mourning the loss of a little boy they deeply loved.

When I think about it, it doesn't seem fair. After all this family has been through in the last few years, losing their little boy just seems so unfair. Have they not suffered enough already? But, at the same time, maybe in some ways it fair to the little boy. He had been through so much more in his short life span than some of us will go through in our much longer lifetimes.

God doesn't promise that life will be fair while we are on this earth. He promises that He will be with us in the midst of life on this earth - in both the good and the bad. But, still our first question when something like this happens is "why" as we tell God that it isn't fair that this happened. It makes me wonder whether our definition of what is fair is the same as God's. He has en eternal perspective on things - we don't. He knows the greater good that can be brought out every situation - we don't at the time.

And, He understands the whole idea of life not being fair so much better than we ever can. I mean, the ultimate unfairness was Jesus going to the cross to die for our sins. So, maybe in situations like this God understands us far more than we think. And maybe we can place confidence in the fact that our God, Who promises to be with us through all of life, does also understand the feelings of life being unfair sometimes.

Life isn't fair. God is with us through it all.

Maybe that sounds a bit trite and a little bit like a "Christianese" thing to say. But there also is a lot of truth in those statements, and that is something to cling to in the midst of the questions that come in a time like this.

just an amusing phrase i saw on a sign

So, no reason to post except that I saw something on a church sign as I was driving past that I found amusing. This church sign sometimes makes me laugh, sometimes make me think, sometimes make me wonder . . .

For your enjoyment . . .

Laying in bed yelling "oh God" is not the same as going to church

I'm not going to debate the merits of the sign or anything of the sort. It just made me smile when I read it, so I thought I would share. That is all for today.