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We are not alone in history when this kind of betrayal thing happens. It rains on the just and the unjust! Who knows which way the tree will fall? Who knew when the story telling of a rebellious teen would sever relationships like a death and destroy innocent lives and leave a trail of wounded? You know life is short and we never know when it will be ended abruptly. The only thing that really matters is if you were to die today, would you be ready to face God with the choices you have made? Will there be things left unsaid with the people in your life? And what kind of legacy will your life have left behind? Will you hear the words, "Well done my good and faithful servant" or will it be "I never knew you"???
Pastor Greg Laurie of Harvest just lost his son in a car accident last week while driving to church. He was a handsome 33 year old married man with a wife, child and another baby on the way. He loved the Lord and is in heaven today. His family's hearts are broken but hear Greg share only 3 days after getting that horrible news about his son: "I Still believe" he says
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ff5o8yRmPHc
Are you ready to walk the path toward the light?
Pastor Greg Laurie of Harvest just lost his son in a car accident last week while driving to church. He was a handsome 33 year old married man with a wife, child and another baby on the way. He loved the Lord and is in heaven today. His family's hearts are broken but hear Greg share only 3 days after getting that horrible news about his son: "I Still believe" he says
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ff5o8yRmPHc
Are you ready to walk the path toward the light?
No matter what, "We still believe!"
2 comments:
That was so moving as Greg shared his pain of losing his son. I was in Delaware on vacation right after this happened and my sister just happened to have Greg Laurie's new book of his own life story that I had never known. He tells of his fatherless childhood even as his mother had married multiple men and been divorced, plus lived with others, many of whom abused him even as a baby. I highly recommend LOST BOY. You will be blessed! B
WHY DO BAD THING HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE. Read Ecclesiastic's for insight...Why not is what we should be saying!
This is very helpful to those going thru PAIN!
Asking the 'Why?' question
-WorldNetDaily
By Greg Laurie-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: August 23, 2008
1:00 am Eastern
© 2008
As I write these words, it has been just one month since my son Christopher left us for heaven. Cathe and I are so very thankful for all the assurances of prayer and the wonderful letters of encouragement and support from so many of God's people around the world. Please continue to pray for us.
I have to say, I have deep, deep moments of sorrow, missing my son. I grieve for him. The Bible tells us there is a place and a time for such mourning. In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon reminds us:
"To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; A time to plant, and a time to pluck what is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; A time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; A time to mourn, and a time to dance" (Ecclesiastes 3:1-4, NKJV).
So, for now, this is a season of mourning.
Some would say, "But Greg, your son is in heaven. Why mourn?"
(Column continues below)
Why? Because I miss him. I don't mourn for Topher (his nickname), for he is in the very presence of God. I mourn for us, his dear wife, children and all of his friends who loved him.
At times it is a pain so deep, it is hard to describe. There is a hole in the world where our son once was. There is an even larger hole in our hearts.
Christopher was a happy, fun, creative person to hang out with, and for those who knew him, his departure has left a huge gap in our lives. We mourn because we loved and love. Our depth of sorrow is an indication of our depth of love.
But the difference between the mourning of a nonbeliever and a believer is this: The believer's sadness is mingled with hope! Paul reminded us that as believers mourning those who have gone to heaven before us, we do not sorrow as those who have no hope (see 1 Thessalonians 4:13). I have hope because I know I will see my son again … in heaven.
But I will be honest with you. It still hurts. A lot.
I have been thinking a great deal about heaven the last few weeks. I have also been searching the Scripture and learning more about it than at any other time in my life. I have known many people who have died and gone to heaven, including my mother. But to have your child precede you is different. A part of you is there now, too.
As I said, some of our mourning has been very deep. But there have been moments of joy, too.
Solomon told us there is also a place and at time to laugh and dance. Now, I'm not very good at that (dancing, that is), but my granddaughter Stella is!
Yesterday, we got out some little toy musical instruments – my wife Cathe on tambourine, my son Jonathan on some kind of rattle, and Grandpa on drums – and we put some happy music on and Stella jumped around the room with delight. We all laughed and had a great time.
But when something like this happens, we collectively wonder: Why does God allow tragedy?
We've all heard it stated in many ways. Why does He allow babies to be born with disabilities? Why does He permit wars to rage? Why does He seem to turn the other way when innocent people are being killed? What about all of those horrible injustices in our world? This hurricane. That epidemic. This wildfire.
A tragic auto accident.
Why do these horrible things afflict our world? If God can prevent such tragedies, why does He allow them to take place?
Here is the classic statement of the problem. Either God is all-powerful but He is not all good, therefore He doesn't stop evil; or, God is all good but He is not all-powerful, therefore He can't stop evil.
The general tendency is to blame all of the problems of the world on God – to say that God is the one who is somehow responsible.
"If God is so good and loving," people will say, "why does He allow evil?" Now, the first part of that question is based on a false premise. By even stating it in that way, what I'm really saying is that I don't believe God to be good and loving.
The "why" question is really a very hard one to answer. Bible teacher Warren Wiersbe wrote me a letter after my son's passing. One of the things he wrote was, "As God's children, we live on promises, not explanations, and you know the promises as well as we do. When we arrive in heaven, we will hear the explanations, accept them and say, 'May the Lord be glorified.'"
By questioning God's goodness and love, I am in essence saying that I know more about it than He does. The fact is, God doesn't become good because that's my opinion of Him, or because I happen to personally agree with His actions or His words. Nor does He become good because we vote on it and all agree that is the case.
God is good because God says He is good. And it's not up for a vote.
Jesus said, "No one is good except God alone" (Luke 18:19, NIV).
You see, God is good whether I believe it or not, and He alone is the final court of arbitration. As the apostle Paul said, "Let God be true, and every man a liar" (Romans 3:4, NKJV).
What, then, is "good"? Just this: Good is whatever God approves. And by the same token, bad is exactly what God says is bad.
Some might say, "That's circular reasoning." Yes, you could say that. But I would describe it as biblical reasoning. The Word of God is our source of truth, defining right and wrong and what our values ought to be. Where else could we go for those definitions?
In Isaiah 1:18, we read: "'Come now, let us reason together,' says the Lord" (NIV).
Or as another translation puts it, "Come let us argue this out, says the Lord" (NLT).
God is saying, "Here's the way I see things. You need to see it the way that I see it." And He goes on to tell us that His thoughts are above our thoughts and His ways are above our ways.
So God is good. Period.
I don't say this because life is always easy; I say it because it is true.
I know this doesn't answer that "why" question, but it does answer the "who" one … the "Who" being our God who loves us.
Perhaps that is the question we ought to be asking during the times of suffering anyway.
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