Reflections from Job - the man Job

I want to share with you some reflections on Job – his story, his book. You know his book deals with loss and grief and suffering and, finally, meaning – which gives comfort in his case. Did you know that this book, Job, is the oldest one of the Bible? I think it’s interesting that loss and grief are the topics that were dealt with first in the Scriptures. And at this point in human history, we’re still dealing with them, trying to make sense, to find the key so that all the pieces of life will fit together in a way that answers all our questions.  That thought presupposes that there IS a key. We’ll see. The book is nearly in the center of our Bibles. The topics certainly are at the center of your (if you’re reading this blog) minds and hearts since the death of your child.

The first thing I observe is that the writer identifies Job as a righteous man (Job 1:1). Since I believe God is responsible for each and every word that appears in the Bible, even though they come from the pens of various men, then it is God who identifies Job as righteous. That implies that bad things can happen to good people. Not every tragedy is perpetrated against a person who is evil, sinful, or bad. There just is not a one-to-one correlation between our acts and what we receive from God or the universe. You can’t say that because I sinned then this happened to my child. Oh, and neither can anyone else say that. You may have been accused, like Job is (we’ll see that later), but that accusation has no truth to stand on. Jesus says the same thing in John 9 when the people ask Him why the man was born blind, was it because of his sin or his parents’? Jesus says, neither! Jesus said it happened so that some aspect of the glory of God might be revealed.  God has reasons other that just plain punishment when He plans things.  

God has His reasons for you too. He has plans to bring His glory out of this loss. He plans to show you His glory through the kindness of friends, through His words as they bring comfort to you, through music and creation and the gentle sounds of a babbling brook. He plans to show forth His glory through you as others see you being comforted in Him.

The bottom line for this is that it’s not your fault. And the Lord is in control. (I’ll discuss that next time in more detail.) The Lord, the One who loves you so much He died for you, is superintending your story. Let peace and patience lead you through your grief because there is comfort and glory down the road.

Daylillies

¹⁹ I remember my affliction and my wandering,  the bitterness and the gall. ²⁰ I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. ²¹ Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:

 ²² Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.

²³ They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ²⁴ I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”

Lamentations 3:19-24

 

In church last week, one friend shared that daylillies remind her of the Lord and His compassion. She told us that one bloom lasts one day. But the next day there is another bloom ready to delight us with beauty. The Lord's compassion is like that - sufficient for each day, but lasts for one day at a time. And there is always a supply ready for the next day and its needs.

Here is a photo of the daylillies in my back yard. Look for the buds that are getting ready to be my flowers of compassion for tomorrow. There are abundant lillies, like His compassion for you and me.

So, in grief, you can rely on the Lord's compassion for this day, and a new supply of His compassion for the next. Because you will surely need more compassion tomorrow.

Parallels

Comparing Jesus’ experience leading up to Easter with your child’s experience before his death, there might be many parallels. Certainly, the central person in each story died – Jesus and your child. But how about other parallels?  Jesus’ skin was pierced by sharp spears. Maybe your child had to endure piercings from needles and other hospital devices.  Helpful, beneficial medical intervention can be similar to torture in some ways! Certainly some kids react to needles like it is torture! Jesus and your child suffered in similar ways. Jesus was mocked. Some of your children might have been bullied. Similar. Jesus felt totally abandoned. His friends withdrew from him and His Father “forsook” him. Your child might have felt the same thing – abandoned by friends who felt he was too different because of his illness  – abandoned by you since you couldn’t make him better  – and you might have felt abandoned because your prayers for healing seemed to fall on deaf ears and were not being answered. Similar. 

What can we learn from these parallelisms? Jesus knows what it’s like to suffer physical pain. He also knows mental and spiritual anguish. You probably felt some of these things too. There is the pain that the separation of death enforces. Jesus knows the suffering of being separated from the One He most loved.

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet without sin.” Hebrews 4:15

Jesus is our priest, the highest priest. He represents us before the Lord God Almighty. He made a sacrifice for sin that covers us all, everything any of us have ever done. And He represents God to us. We can talk with Him as if we are talking with the Father, but without any intimidation we might feel when we think about talking with the God of all gods! We can come to Him as we would go to a person whom we felt truly understands us. Because He does; because he has been through it all. Including all the troubles your grief generates. He has been through it all.  

Because of the similarities and parallels of experience, “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Hebrews 4:16

I love those words – mercy, grace, help, confidence. You may come close to the One whose heart knows the hurts of your own heart as if He’d been there. Come close.

Closer to the Finish Line

In an earlier blog I mentioned this: …that you are getting closer to the finish line too. You are getting closer with each passing season to that time when you can rest in Jesus’ presence and ask all your questions and get all your answers, or realize that none of the questions or answers is more important than resting there, with Him.

Many times, I have heard bereaved parents say that each passing year brings them closer to the finish line of their own lives. Most Americans don’t take comfort in this thought, but bereaved parents do! It means that they are closer to the time when they’ll be with the child again. It means other good things too:  reunion with others who have died, union with Christ, no more crying or pain, no more questions, greater understanding, clear communion with Jesus and with the child and with other family members.

Bereaved parents don’t want their lives to be over, but they want to be closer to their own finish lines. It is important to live well the days, months and years you have on this earth because those times were given to you by Christ. It’s not just luck or fate, but by Christ who does not make mistakes, who wastes nothing and who has a purpose for you.

A friend’s brother died suddenly this week. He was too young to die. There was no forewarning. He just died at home alone while watching tv. He had no warning. His sister had no warning. But, in God’s providence, his time had come to cross the finish line of his life-race. She is comforted knowing he was ready to “meet his judge and maker unafraid.” He stood before God, clothed in Christ’s robes of righteousness and God said, “Well done.” You all know that my friend will be grieving for a long time to come, but it is good to have the comfort of knowing her brother was ready to enter heaven.

Friend, you know that you are getting closer to the finish line too. You know someone who is already in Jesus’ presence. And you want to be there some day too. But you don’t know when the time of the finish line of your race will come. You may get weeks or months of warning, or not. So just get ready now. You will cross the finish line and meet your Judge and Maker too. You will stand there either in your own robes – that the Bible calls filthy rags (because your robes aren’t perfectly without sin, compromise, or blemish) – or in the robes of righteousness that Jesus offers to give you. Accept the gift and be ready! That’s all it takes. Then, when your time to cross the finish line comes, you will hear the same “well done” and “welcome home” my friend’s brother heard this week.  

Let your child, who went before you across this line, lead you into the presence of Jesus when it's your time to cross the finish line of your life.

Walking in a Garden

In the previous essay I made mention of a group of men walking along, talking over the events of the day. This conversation had a deep impact on 2 of the participants. The third member of this conversation was Jesus, who had just that morning returned to life after being killed.  I want to talk about how similar this is to an earlier conversation between God and man. Adam and God the Creator used to walk and talk in the garden God had created and given to Adam and Eve. The Bible says God was walking in the garden in the cool of the day looking for Adam to have conversation. This verse also ends with a statement of Adam’s attitude of fear and hiding, since he knew he had just disobeyed his Creator. But that’s another point. I think this verse is a clue to the quality of their relationship before the disobedience. They met regularly and walked and talked together. They talked about the events of the day. Adam must have shared some exciting new observations he made about tigers or oranges or whatever else caught his imagination. Maybe he asked about how to manage a certain plant to its best productivity. God must have enjoyed seeing his created image-bearer learning about the world around him – the way I’m excited as I watch my grandchildren learning about their world. Maybe God also tutored Adam in many things –plants and animals, stars and the universe, relationships - until all this was interrupted by Adam’s choice to disobey, which led to his fall from grace.

So that close fellowship was interrupted by sin. But since then, God has been in the business of restoring quality back into the fellowship between God and man. You have been invited into an intimate relationship with your Creator-Redeemer-Father where He knows your every pain and sorrow. Where He’ll always wipe away your tears.  And every cause of every tear. No more of the stuff that causes those tears. Think of all the tears you have shed since your child died. God Himself wants to take you in His arms, close to His heart and to touch your face, wiping away all those tears. He wants to comfort you.

The new earth and heaven where our God dwells and redeemed believing humans will dwell with Him is a garden where fellowship is fully restored and there are no more tears. We travel to this restored garden through a 3^rd garden - The Garden of Gethsemane. This interim garden is where Jesus prayed that the “cup” might be taken away from Him. And it’s where Jesus answered “yes, I will do Your will” to His Father.  The death of Jesus fulfills the Creator-Redeemer-Father’s purpose to bring you close so that He can comfort you.

Can you imagine the close fellowship between Creator and creature in the first garden? That’s what our hearts long for because we were made for this. Do you want to be comforted in your grief by One who loves you immeasurably? That’s what awaits you in the restored garden. You can come to Him for that comfort because Jesus went through the interim garden, saying “yes” to His Father’s plan for restoration. You can know at least some of that comfort right now because of the restored fellowship we can have with Him in this life now, even before we get all the way to the restored garden. He wants to comfort you. 

“We do not want you …to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again… And we will be with the Lord forever.” I Thessalonians 4:13-14,17. See also these references that influenced my thoughts: Genesis 3:8, Luke 22:39-46, Revelation 21:1-5.

The Emmaus Hike

After Jesus’ resurrection, but before people understood what had happened, everyone was confused, especially his disciples. Since Jesus died the evening of the Sabbath, his body was not prepared properly for burial. So the morning after the Sabbath, some women of the community of his friends came to do that proper, common preparation. They found the tomb open and empty. And they spoke with an angel who said He is alive! Wow, that’s something new and unexpected! The women went back and told the men disciples who absolutely didn’t believe the women’s testimony. Because what they said was so new and unexpected, “nonsense” is the Biblical description. A few of the men went to the tomb to see for themselves. They found the tomb empty, just like the women said. The story in Luke 24 says Peter “went away wondering… what had happened.”

Later that day a couple of the guys went walking to the next town, about 7 miles up the road. That’s almost a 2 hour walk, I suppose. They didn’t have iPods so they weren’t listening to music or a podcast. They walked along and talked together. They, too, were wondering what had just happened to their beloved leader who had just died.  A stranger joined them. But he didn’t seem to know anything about all these events, so they told him all that had happened and how confused and disappointed they were.

Then, as they walked along, the stranger began to explain the scriptures from beginning to end and showed them how it all fit together with what happened to their friend. Their hearts burned with excitement and wonder, but they didn’t know why… until the stranger gave thanks for the meal and they knew immediately it was Jesus, the beloved leader who was dead, but now was alive, talking and walking with them!  

Grief can be like that sometimes too. Maybe you’re confused and disappointed. Disappointed about doctors, drivers, family responses, neighbors and strangers (what they said or didn’t say), and with God Himself. Confused about how the life and death of your child fits with God’s promise to bless your family. Just like the disciples, you’re so deeply sad because one you love died. Your loss is so profound. You may be confused about how to live now.

I’m going to suggest that there are also similarities on Jesus’ side of the conversation. The Lord can and wants to break into your confusion with hope. He wants to open your understanding of what He is doing in the world at large and your family in particular.

I suggest you walk and talk with someone who wants to listen. Go about your daily activities and think about things. I suggest you break bread with loving friends. I suggest that you mull over all the details, telling someone who will listen. Tell the Lord Himself, over and over.  As you are doing these everyday things, I believe He will help clear some of the confusion. I believe the Lord wants to reveal to you some degree of understanding of the meaning of your child’s life and death, and of His presence with you. I believe He will show Himself to you in some way. It may be just a small revelation but it can make a huge difference for you. Clearing the confusion, making your heart sing, giving you deeper intimacy with Him and insight into His character. The disciples’ hearts burned with hope as their eyes were opened to who was walking with them. May your heart also burn with hope and peace.

²⁷ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. (Luke 24:27)   This whole story is told in Luke 24:13-35.

He Knows Your Name

A mom called the office recently. Her son’s birthday is just a few weeks in the future so his name is listed in our newsletter on our Dates to Remember. This list allows people who know one another to remember them in prayer and with cards and messages of hope. We had made a mistake that caused this mom some extra pain. And none of our BASIS parents needs any additional pain! We had misspelled the name of her son. We are so very sorry when this happens. The child is precious, their name represents their identity, it’s important. Accuracy counts. We strive to not let it ever happen because we know it is so painful for our parents. We make sure our newsletter is proofread by at least 3 people. And, knowing all that, we still make mistakes sometimes. Please, if this happens to you, let us know so we can make corrections. Please forgive us for our lack of accuracy. Please let the Lord, who knows you child’s name, comfort you.

Yes, we sometimes make mistakes on important things like the spelling of your child’s names. But our Father does not make such mistakes, ever. He knows your child’s name and identity, perfectly and uniquely. He also knows you and the pain in your heart. As the Father of all comfort, He promises to send messages and messengers of comfort to you. He knows your child’s name and yours.

I am especially fond of these verses:

“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;    I have summoned you by name; you are mine. For I am the LORD your God,    the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; … Do not be afraid, for I am with you;”    Isaiah 43:1b,3,5 NIV

These verses carry one of my favorite Biblical themes: Don’t fear for I AM WITH YOU. These verses also include a picture that shows the quality of relationship we have with our Father, the Lord God Almighty. He knows your name. In fact, He has redeemed you (the picture is that He has paid for your freedom from slavery). And He personally invites you (that’s what “summoned” means) into His presence. He says “you are mine.”  I know no more intimate verse in the Bible. He knows you. He’s called you. He identifies you as belonging to Him, personally. He won’t misspell your name or mix you up with another person, even one who has the same name (there are 41 David Martins in my phone book and God knows each one separately). He knows you. He wants you for His own.

Read these verses with your name inserted. Read them with you child’s name. Then say “yes” to His personal invitation to belong to Him.

The Days Between Friday and Sunday

On Friday, Jesus died on a cross. He knew pain, loneliness and death, and he was the object of complaint and hatred of others. You might have known some of those same feelings surrounding your child’s death. On Saturday, Jesus was in the tomb. His friends were stunned. They were grieving. They were sometimes together, like you and friends and family were together after your child’s death. Milling around in someone’s living room and kitchen, picking at some food someone brought in, unable to taste. Unable to sit for more than a couple minutes at a time, afraid to leave in case someone called to say it was all a mistake! Sometimes they may have been alone with their thoughts of disbelief and disappointment. You too, may have thoughts of disbelief and of disappointment. Disappointment that God, the good God you thought was in charge had let your child’s death happen. The good God whom you know can heal, didn’t heal and prevent your child’s death.

And on Saturday, God the Father was a bereaved parent, like you. I know He knew the plan, but I also know He had never ever had a moment of time when He didn’t have fellowship with His Son. He was bereft. He experienced the separation from His beloved Son, like you are experiencing the separation from your beloved child.

Then, on Sunday, HE AROSE from that tomb, back to life again. The Resurrection. The grave doesn’t win, resurrection does! That tomb is not the end of the story. This life and death are not all there is!

Jesus’ resurrection is proof there is life beyond the grave. It proves Him - the One who is risen is worthy that we trust His words and teaching. It gives us hope.

“Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him… And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words.”  (I Thessalonians 4:13-14, 17b,18)

It gives us hope because there is life beyond the grave and Jesus wants to give it to you. These few sentences from Paul’s letter to the Christians at Thessalonica say we are supposed to encourage each other with talk of the resurrection and of heaven. So I’m talking! Jesus died, for real. He rose again, for real. Because of that, you have real hope for each day.

The Last Dinner Meeting

Easter is coming. Resurrection. Hallelujah! But first, there is death.

And before that Jesus hosted his final dinner meeting with His closest friends (John 13-17). He told them many things about his impending suffering. Their reaction:  Naw! That can’t happen!  They weren’t really listening to Him.

This dinner meeting went on for a few hours. He washed their feet. He talked and taught. He prayed for them – and for us! That night, the night the downward spiral began that led to the humiliating and agonizing cross, he prayed for all His followers in future history. That’s us! He prayed for us! He was going to die at the hands of the Roman-Hebrew conspiracy, but He was thinking about us!

Jesus was not focused on self or self preservation. He wasn’t focused on pain avoidance or pain relief. He wasn’t focused on anything but mercy to you and me, knowing He had to go all the way to the cross as his Father asked. His teaching that evening was all for the benefit of His followers. He taught that He’d be leaving very soon and the method of His departure would be very troublesome; that He would prepare a place for us; that He’d send His agent to be with us always (the Holy Spirit); and that He wanted us to remember all this after He’d gone. The disciples couldn’t understand, really. It was beyond their ability to comprehend until the events actually came to pass. But He prepared them anyway.

He said in that prayer: “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.” (John 17:24) These events and their impact for us have been in the plan for a long time!

How does all this intersect with your grief? From before the creation of the world, Jesus was planning to give us reason for hope. From the instant the death sentence was pronounced on Adam for his disobedience, the Father was planning to redeem everything that had been broken. The cost for that renewal was very high – the life of His Son, who is God Himself contained in the flesh. But because Jesus wanted you to be with Him and to see His glory, the Father and Son were willing to pay.

He has always focused on our benefits. Somehow, the death of your child fits into this picture – God wants to shower us with His benefits. He created Life. Now He is recreating life, even for you after the death of your child. Certainly there is life without sorrow in eternity, when you can be where Jesus is. But I believe He is offering you a life that starts here and now that can be described by words like “hope” and “resurrection” and “seeing His glory.”  

You may be reacting like the disciples: Naw, that can never be! Like the disciples, it’s hard to comprehend how His benefits apply in your life after your loss. But He has been preparing for you because He wants you to be with Him (and His Spirit with you) and for you to see His glory. Keep your eyes open. He is working for your benefit right now.

Rapid Changes

Before His death, Jesus experienced the triumphal entry. From Triumph, where the crowds were FOR Him, to trial and execution, where all the people, powerful and ordinary alike, were AGAINST Him. Such a big change in less than one week. Jesus had a good idea that his immediate future wasn’t going to be easy. But He faced all this quietly, waiting for God to unveil his purpose and process for all to see. Do you feel there are any parallels between His experience and yours? You probably didn’t lose your child by execution. Do you feel like you expected the course to go one way, but suddenly things changed? Were you confident that healing would be the outcome, but what God has given is death? Do you feel maybe doctors were more optimistic than truthful with you? Or were some of your friends and spiritual counselors speaking of healing and good days ahead, but the days ended? Did your child rally the last week, so you thought he was over the worst of it, ready to get out of the hospital and back to school? Just like the people of Jerusalem, we can see signs and misunderstand what they mean. In the last days of your child’s life, did things change direction much too fast?

For some of you there may be parallels even more striking. There may have been violence at the hand of another, or even self inflicted wounds. You were probably totally surprised by those events. A different kind of sudden change of direction. 

The people celebrating Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem were celebrating a triumph, but it is one that God didn’t promise or bring to pass. He didn’t have political conquest in mind, but the more permanent spiritual conquest of death. The people misunderstood God’s plan and purpose in these events. They were misled, and misunderstood what was about to happen. We can misunderstand too. We can misunderstand the medical situation and we can misunderstand the spiritual situation.

If your experience during your child’s illness or the circumstances of their death included this kind of disappointment and confusion, what is there to learn from this part of the Easter story?

• Jesus waited quietly until events unfolded according to God’s plan. He trusted God his Father with the details.
• He trusted the Father’s heart, even when it seemed details were going terribly wrong. Where was Justice in His trial?
• Jesus willingly went forward into the darkness of death, trusting there was light and life on the other side. In fact, he had said I’ll destroy the temple and rebuild it in 3 days. I don’t’ think the disciples had a good understanding of what that meant until after the 3 days in the grave! So, with us, we may not understand the meaning that will come out of events, for a long time. But we know and can trust the God who does create that meaning.
• After His death, his friends and family gathered together and supported one another and waited. Then they began to see some little signs, then bigger ones about what it all meant. It meant the gates of heaven are open wide for all who will believe.

I am going to encourage you to gather with people who love you and loved the child, and wait. Look for signs of what God will do to comfort you and to give greater meaning to the child’s life and death. It won’t mean the redemption of the whole human race, of course, but their death will not be wasted. Your child has meaning, as does your grief. So wait and look for the signs.

A bereaved father said: we prayed for a miracle, and we received one. Not the one we hoped for (his life on earth) but a real miracle still (his life everlasting)!

False Accusations

One scene from the week before the first Easter is in the court at which lying witnesses falsely accused Jesus of political insurrection.  (Matthew 26:59ff) Jesus faced those false accusations and refused to argue. The accusations didn’t deserve His attention. You, too, may have some false charges placed against you. Someone in your community may accuse that you did or didn’t do some special treatment, or didn’t see a doctor soon enough or you didn’t see a certain doctor or you didn’t try certain alternative treatments or you or they missed something and so on, and so on. You also may accuse yourself of all this and more. Jesus’ false witnesses were set up by the court. Yours could be set up by the enemy of your soul.

Roman soldiers mocked Him with “royal” robes and a crown of thorns. Mocking like this is another kind of false accusation. (Mathew 27:27ff). The priests and teachers mocked Him saying: he saved others, but can’t save himself. Not true. He chose to not save himself. He could have. But He gave His life, voluntarily. He chose to save all of us instead of saving himself. It was so dramatic that a soldier concluded: surely he was the Son of God (Matthew 27:54) because of what he saw.

Neighbors may accuse. We can accuse ourselves. And we have the Enemy who is also known as the Accuser. He sits on your shoulder whispering in your ear. You’ve seen the cartoons representing this. The accusations come from every direction. What can a grieving parent do?

Like Jesus, you can meet the accusations with truth. You don’t need to argue or prove yourself to anyone else. Just know the truth in your own heart and head. Here are some general truths that apply:  1. Jesus loves you. 2. You made every decision during your child’s illness based on all the information and wisdom you had at the time. 3. The Bible says the number of days of your child’s life was planned from before the foundation of the world (Psalm 139:16).  4. You can’t extend that plan by one minute by worrying. (Mathew 6:27)

Jesus chose to go ahead to the cross and through the tomb, for you. So that, now in grief, you can have hope for heaven because His death can redeem you from the penalty of sin and because His resurrection proves Life wins. Since He’s done all that don’t let the accuser get to your heart. Trust that God has been in it and with you all along the way. Believe that His purposes are good – because He says so. Jesus knows that feeling of being falsely accused of something, just like you. He’s such a good friend. Talk it over with Him. The hymn says: What a friend we have in Jesus, all our … griefs to bear… Take it to the Lord in prayer.”

One Month to Easter

Some of you may be involved in the music ministry at your church. You are probably already practicing all the glorious Easter music. Are you comforted by what you’re singing? Some of you who have always participated in the choir or other worship music may be having a hard time with the music of worship most Sundays. I have known some habitual participants who have taken a “leave of absence” during their grief because of their raw emotions. It’s common for grieving parents to shed tears or be unable to sing certain songs because of the memories they induce or because of the message of the song. Nearly every parent can’t sing Amazing Grace because of the emotions generated by that great message of redemption. The music of Easter focuses on death and redemption. You have experienced death in a personal way. You hope for the resurrection and want proof. So Easter hits very close to home, close to your pain. The stories hit your sore spots and hurt, though the message is also your source of hope. I am not talking about bunnies and spring colors; I’m talking about the prayer in the garden, the trial, the mocking, the painful death – and the resurrection! Easter is an emotional time for bereaved people.

Let me encourage you to really put your heart into the next 5 Easter worship services. Listen to the messages of scripture leading up to the cross and resurrection. Hear how Jesus faced His own death. Hear how He wanted out of it but then yielded to His Father.  See how badly others treated Him, but how he patiently kept going forward to a painful death. See how He focused on eternal things and on how this all fit into redemptions’ big story. Feel the Resurrection! Know He lives. Think about what that new life means to you now that you have faced death.

There is a lot of pain in Easter, as we think about Jesus’ painful decisions and about the physical pain He experienced. There’s pain for us as we remember that He did this because we’re sinners and need a redeemer. In some sense it’s because of us that Jesus was required to go this route. There’s pain just thinking about one fellow human going through this pain while another human being hammered in the nails! And seeing, thinking about death always causes confusion and psychic pain.

But all our hope is rooted in Easter – The Resurrection of Jesus. That one event does at least 2 things for us:

• It guarantees that there is life beyond the grave.
• It redeems all who confess ourselves as sinners. It “buys” our freedom from the penalty we rightly deserve in the courtroom of eternal justice. It gives us a ticket into heaven and the requisite robes of righteousness. We’re ready for the Celebration Banquet in heaven because of the cross and resurrection.

For me, this blog can only end with this thought: Hallelujah! So while you’re practicing Handel’s Messiah or if you get to hear it this Easter season, sing the hope you get from the resurrection, even in your grief. It’s for a time just like this that He died. Hallelujah.