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TRAGEDY

This side of heaven, I'll never fully understand all that's happening in our world. This past week, I found a chapter entitled, "Contending with a Tragic World," in Teresa Turner Vining's book, "Making Your Faith Your Own: A Guidebook for Believers with Questions" that is helping me as I grapple with my faith in light of recent events. Here's a few excerpts from the chapter:

"Some Christians claim that such tragedies do not shake their faith in the least, but I cannot say this. Sometimes it feels as if my faith evaporates in an instant, like a drop of water in a burst of heat… Of all the questions I have about my faith, this is among those I struggle with the most. Why do such senseless things happen? Where is God in these situations?

Why is it that good and evil don't seem to have a level playing field? Why does it take so much effort to be truly good and loving while selfishness comes without trying?"

Those are all good questions-honest questions. The truth is, when it comes to tragedies, I find I have more questions than answers. Vining doesn't answer all these questions in her chapter, but she does help me see how asking the questions, even when I can't completely answer them, can build my faith instead of extinguish it. She writes:

"Although the prevalence of evil in the world has been one of the issues I have struggled with most, wrestling with this question has also stretched my understanding of God and myself. The question has led me on a long and winding path, with many switchbacks and confusing loops, but somewhere in the journey my perspective has begun to change. I have gone from suspecting that evil is an indication of the absence of God to realizing that the Christian answer possesses an uncanny ability to fit the pieces of the puzzle of evil together in the only way I can find that begins to make sense.

My faith still quivers when I come in contact with suffering. I have encountered little true hardship in my life, but what little I have seen reveals how faint-hearted I am. And when I am in the middle of it all, sometimes I find it hard to accept these answers—but perhaps grappling with this at these times is also part of the process of being shaped into who God wants me to be."

—Making Your Faith Your Own: A Guidebook for Believers with Questions by Teresa Turner Vining. Chapter 12, "Contending with a Tragic World," pages 137-148, Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Krista Van Gorp-Carnet

For more information on Making Your Faith Your Own, go to: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0830823263/fm082-20

TRAGEDY TO CHRIST

Curt Warner, the quarterback of the World Champion St. Louis Rams is serious about his football, but is passionate about his faith. Every time reporters put their microphone in his face, he seems to want to talk more about his faith than his football.

Four years ago, Warner was dating Brenda, a single woman with two children. When her parents were killed in their home by a tornado in Mountain View, Arkansas, Warner observed how her faith helped her respond to the tragedy. Her positive witness led him to faith in Christ.

Today, he is married to Brenda, and has adopted her children Zachary and Jesse and their pastor, Jeff Perry leads a Bible Study in their home each week. God used the tragedy to bring Warner to faith in Christ, and is using Warner to spread the message in his community and the world.

"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28 NASB)

—ReligionToday, 1-28-2000 Illustration by Jim L. Wilson

TRAGEDY

Matt and Melissa Graves from Elkhorn, Nebraska were with their two children in June of 2016 enjoying a movie night outdoors at the Walt Disney World Grand Floridian resort near the Seven Seas Lagoon. Their daughter was in her playpen and their 2-year-old toddler, Lane, was doing what toddlers do: constantly exploring the area. Matt and Melissa watched as Lane waded into the lagoon near the movie site. He was only in a foot of water when an alligator came out, grabbed the boy, and took him into the water. Both parents went in the water after the alligator, to no avail and personal injury, but the boy was gone. An extensive search by the authorities ensued. Searchers eventually found him, but it was too late, he was dead, with his body intact in 6 feet of murky water only 10 to 15 yards from the attack site. Lane had suffered only a few puncture wounds. Jeff Corwin, an alligator expert said, "That gator came in, grabbed that boy, pulled him, the dad startled that gator, the gator let him go and then the boy drowned.” The mom referred to her son, “as her 'happy boy.’”

Sometimes the best we can do when the worst happens is to love . . . and to weep with those who weep.–Jim L. Wilson and Kevin C. Hall

John 11:33–35 (HCSB) “When Jesus saw her crying, and the Jews who had come with her crying, He was angry in His spirit and deeply moved. ³⁴ ‘Where have you put him?’ He asked. ‘Lord,’ they told Him, ‘come and see.’ ³⁵ Jesus wept.”

http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/15/us/alligator-attacks-child-disney-florida/

http://abc7ny.com/news/dad-says-2-alligators-involved-in-disney-attack-that-killed-son/1412116/

TRAGEDY

Vernon Shazier is a pastor in Florida. His son Ryan was a linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Everything was good until December 4, 2017 Ryan suffered a back injury in a game against the Cincinnati Bengals. Ryan, 25 called his dad from the ambulance. “Daddy, pray for me,” he screamed. “I can’t feel my legs.” That began a long road of hospitals, praying, watching, questioning, and wondering if he genuinely believed the message he had preached about a loving, caring, healing God. Where was God when his son was hurting?

Vernon and his wife Shawn took turns at the hospital, ensuring one of them was at Ryan’s side every day, every night, for months. Vernon wanted to project strength, but his knees wobbled and his eyes burned with grief. He would go into a men’s room stall, lock the door and weep. He would send a group text to his family every day, “God is with us. God is with you. God is helping you. God is healing you.” But in his alone time, he would talk to himself, “Vernon, you have to decide whether you believe or don’t believe what you’ve been teaching and preaching about God.”

One night, alone in the dark, Vernon decided. He came to realize he knew no other way. His entire life he came to believe, had pointed and prepared him for this crisis. He reached out to God, “God, I’m all in.”

Bishop, Greg, The Pastor, His Porch and His Fight with Faith, Sports Illustrated, December 2, 2019, pp. 43-48

Vernon Shazier meditated, prayed, wrote sermons, read scripture on his porch in Florida. When tragedy struck, he spent his alone time on his son’s porch in Pittsburgh. The porch weather in Pennsylvania is not as comfortable as porch weather in Florida, but that is where his fig tree was located. He spent time with God under the fig tree so he was prepared when he needed God to spend time with him. Where do you spend time with God in order to prepare for the time you will need Him most? —Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell.

John 1:48 (CSB)

“How do you know me?” Nathanael asked.

“Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you,” Jesus answered.