Why?

On November 26th 2006 I watched my grandfather loose his battle with cancer. The experience of watching someone die is something I believe I will never forget. The memory of my grandfather's last moments and words will be forever etched in my memory. I closely watched several family members loose a part of their hearts as he passed. My grandmother who taught me true sacrifice during this time. She sustained so much, she cared for him in his weakness and loved him despite. I closely watched my own father during this time and was overwhelmed with a sense of sadness...there was no amount of money or notoriety in the world to save his life, and watching him grapple with that reality was unimaginable. We read books and talk to so many people who are all confronted with the why Factor...why and how could God allow suffering? I've often been confronted with that question but resolved it in my mind as one of those questions that are unanswerable, one of God's mysteries. Until it hit me personally, Fists in the air aimed at God...Why??Why do some people seem to skip through life like trees are made of lollipops and clouds of cotton candy and others it seems are dragged through life? Why? I by no means have any deep theological training...what I do have is experience...some interesting ones. In effort to try and understand suffering in relation to God...I have to try to understand suffering and me. You see, when faced with the reality of your own suffering you grow dependant on the answers that your human brain tries to conclude. In my suffering I've never known Christ more. In my suffering I've identified with the person of Christ yet accepted the God in him. I understand the Christ who came into a suffering world, put on human skin, looked at us through human eyes, crawled into that corner with me and understood the alienation that rejection brings on, the hurt of loneliness and loss... the pain of suffering. Although, I can safely say that I do not know or begin to understand Human suffering that goes on in our world today like the AIDS epidemic or hunger...I can resonate with feelings of loss or hopelessness. Perhaps in all my "experiences" I met Jesus...the person who chose to come into our suffering and continues to choose us, meet us and get into that pit with us with an offer of hope and restoration. Why he chose and continues to choose us...that is a love I'll never understand

Thanks

A good friend of mine started this thing on his blog. Like many times before he has often inspired me. So, because of his inspiration I decided to add a link to my blog that's called..."thankful for..." Basically I'll try to think of a few things i'm thankful for each week. I realize some weeks are better than others but what better way to keep you grounded than to remain thankful for so many things that I often take for granted


Thankful for a friend like Dave...for never giving up on me even when I had given up on me, inspiring me to grow in integrity and character and always challenging me to live and love Christ more...

Thank you my friend...