Reflections on tragedy
The righteous man perishes, and no one lays it to heart; devout men are taken away, while no one understands. For the righteous man is taken away from calamity, he enters into peace; they rest in their beds who walk in their uprightness. - Isaiah 58:1-2Many of you know the struggles that I have been through in the past ten years or so with death. It is an issue that plagues us all without solid answers most of the time.
At 14, my catcher was shot in a drive-by. He was standing next to the target, a friend of his since kindergarten. At 17, my father committed suicide. On my 19th birthday a counselor at the camp I used to work at drowned with no explanation. At 20, one of my good friends was paralyzed from 4th T down (about mid chest level) in a car accident. This past March a friend of mine was killed in an avalanche. He was trained in wilderness techniques and was an experienced guide. He did nothing wrong. This past August a friend of mine was killed in a climbing accident at Garden of the Gods. He also did nothing wrong - the rock failed.
In tragedy it cannot be understood why they were taken. Why they had to die before their "time". But who are we to know when or what their time is? Who are we to know when our time is? We believe that our God is all knowing, all powerful, and loving. And thus lies our dilemma. A loving God takes someone from the world, and we are hurt. We are angry at God.
The first and second verses in Isaiah 58 speak directly on this topic. We do not understand; we do not have answers. But it says plainly that God takes them to save them from calamity. Wow. We have a hope in something greater than our short time here on earth. In the perspective of eternity, our lives are as significant as a "vapor which appears for a moment then vanishes" (James 4:14). Thus, if our short time will be plagued with calamity, then God takes us. Hmmm...
How then should we live? I believe that we are only guaranteed two things in life - one, the faithfulness of God and his love for us - two, this present moment. Not tomorrow, not next week, not next minute - but right now. If we are pursuing God's will for our lives, then where we are this moment, what we are doing in this present moment is where God desires us to be. We must strive to live every moment as if it were our last, and we must live every moment as if God has ordained this moment for us (and he has!). How much more important will the relationships in our lives become? How much more special will the time we are blessed with become?
He said I was in my early forties
with a lot of life before me
when a moment came that stopped me on a dime
and I spent most of the next days
looking at the x-rays
Talking bout the options
and talking bout sweet time
I asked him when it sank in
that this might really be the real end
how's it hit you when you get that kinda news
man what'd you do
and he said
I went sky diving
I went Rocky Mountain climbing
I went 2.7 seconds on a bull named fumanchu
and I loved deeper and I spoke sweeter
and I gave forgiveness I'd been denying
and he said someday I hope you get the chance
to live like you were dying.
He said I was finally the husband
that most the time I wasn't
and I became a friend a friend would like to have
and all the sudden going fishin
wasn't such an imposition
and I went three times that year I lost my dad
well I finally read the good book and I
took a good long hard look
at what I'd do if I could do it all again
and he said
I went sky diving
I went Rocky Mountain climbing
I went 2.7 seconds on a bull named fumanchu
and I loved deeper and I spoke sweeter
and I gave forgiveness I'd been denying
and he said someday I hope you get the chance
to live like you were dying.
Like tomorrow was a gift and you got eternity to think about
what'd you do with it what did you do with it
what did I do with it
what would I do with it?
posted by Devo @ 1:22 PM
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