photo by Creativity+ Timothy K Hamilton via PhotoRee

A 19-year-old man from our small community died this week, overcome by an avalanche while snowmobiling in the high country. He was a year behind my daughter in school and a year ahead of my oldest son. I see his mom every other week as part of my work for the local paper.

My #2 son (age 16) sent me a text this afternoon: "What do you say to people when they ask why God didn't stop ____ from dying? I've been asked a couple times today."

The cheap, easy, cop-out answer is something like this: "God knows best" or "God needed another angel in heaven" or "He was so good God wanted him home now." Most of us recognize those answers as ringing false on the inside.

So how do we answer the impossible question, WHY?

photo by ☃ via PhotoRee

It's not an easy answer. Not multiple choice. Not true or false. It's like one of those convoluted algebraic equations that covers half the board and still doesn't come to a conclusion you comprehend.

What did I tell my son? God made man with a free will to choose what he/she does and where he/she goes.

Just as God will not override the free will He gave mankind, God does not override natural law or spiritual law. If we decide to go somewhere, we go. If we decide to do something, we do it. And God allows it. We think that's perfectly just and fair and right. Until someone gets hurt, and we wanna know why God didn't do something about it.

God doesn't MAKE us accept Jesus. He doesn't force us to tell the truth. He doesn't send a supernaturally guided raindrop to extinguish every lit cigarette, or something to jam every gun aimed at an innocent victim.
If He did those kinds of things at random, He would be obligated to do them for everyone, or else He would not be fair or just.

And His fairness and equity is just a part of the overall equation.

God is not only omnipotent (all powerful), He's omniscient (all knowing), and omnipresent (without time). In other words, the equation that adds up to our lives includes variables we can't see because we are trapped in earth suits with limited knowledge, limited power, and locked into a specific, and short, frame of time. These are the variables that figure in to the equation of their lives. What spiritual laws have been set in motion? What physical laws were in place? Most of the time, we simply don't know. And we hate that, because WE WANT TO KNOW.

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However, if you knew all things, on every level of past, present AND future, your brain (which gets confused reading through the IRS instructions for the 1040) would probably spontaneously combust. In conclusion, if we can't answer WHY, we should at least be able to answer WHAT.

What do YOU believe? I hope that young man was a believer in Christ Jesus as Savior and Lord. I believe he was, based on the insight of his friends and family. That being the case, He is not lost or MIA. He's in heaven with His Lord Jesus, as alive (or more alive) than you and I.

photo by !ºrobodot via PhotoRee

WHY did this happen? Remember those word problems in math class where you simply lacked enough information to answer the question? Yeah. I simply don't know enough information to give you a reason. But this I do know: Jesus has it covered.

All those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life (not according to their works, but according to what -- or in whom -- they believe), need not fear death. It's merely a transition from one state of being to another, like falling asleep. We will see them again. Probably sooner than we think.

My prayers go out to this sweet family in their time of need, trusting God to intervene in the course of grief and sorrow and reveal to them the absolute truth of heaven, of life in Christ, and of the vapor that is this natural life. May they find comfort in God's Word and among their brothers and sisters in Christ.

Most of the time I try not to make a nuisance out of myself.
(No, really.)

I shudder at the idea of condemning someone for his or her sin when I have "issues" (that's Christian code for "sin problem") of my own. I don't want to manipulate, pressure, or compel my friends to believe what I believe about God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit. (Although sometimes I wish God would give us the ability to compel folks the way vampires do so we could wrap this whole mess up in a hurry.)

I'm painfully aware of the reaction folks have to meeting a Christian, especially one "in ministry." Like when the lady who pierced my nose realized she'd cussed someone out on the phone while I was in the room. As soon as she found out I was a pastor's wife, she apologized, as though it would scorch my purified pastoral ears to hear such language. I tried to explain that not only have I heard those words before, I've USED those words. Out loud. Recently.

I've tried to avoid mentioning God in casual conversation with friends. I've tried to explain my perspective on a situation without bringing in what I know of my Creator. I just can't do it.

I can't tell you how kid #3 supernaturally recovered from chronic ear infections without telling you what God "told" me to do to fix the problem. (Telling people God talks to you is a surefire way to get a raised eyebrow and a concerned expression.) I can't explain why we moved here without explaining to you the insistent tug of His calling. To tell you about the time the dial on our electric meter miraculously moved backward and spared us from a bill we couldn't afford, I have to tell you about my Jesus, who answers prayer.

Why can't I leave it alone? Why can't I keep God out of my conversations, out of my blog posts, off my Facebook status? Why do your Christian friends continue to pester you about church, about the Bible, about who Jesus is to you, about receiving Him as Savior and Lord? Why the H-E-double toothpicks won't they just leave you alone?

I can't speak for every Christian, only for myself. I can't bear to consider the idea of spending eternity without all the people I've come to respect, admire, and love.

How could heaven be heavenly without you?