Getting Ahead: ‘When you don’t know why’

0

Everyone has experienced the passing of a friend or loved one. When I was in junior high school, I had a friend hit and killed by a pick-up truck as we were crossing a road.

It was my first encounter with death and I can remember it as if it just happened. It was one of those misty and rainy nights. The school bus had just dropped us off after a basketball game. My friend’s cousin was ahead of him and had just crossed the road.

I was behind him and had not started across. He was on the road at the split second that a pick-up truck came along. A second earlier his cousin would have been hit. A second later and I would have been hit. I did not understand why this happened. My next encounter with death was right after I was married and my brother Sam was killed. He was heading home one morning from work. He went to sleep and ran off the road. That was before seat belts and even though his car was not damaged all that much, his head hit the roof of his car and it broke his neck.

Again, I did not understand why this happened. Now that I am a father, grandfather and great-grandfather, I have seen other young people pass on, but it never gets any easier for the family and friends. Even when an older person, who has suffered a prolonged illness dies, it is not easy. When we lose someone there is a hole in our heart from that day forward. We can never forget them.

Why do we have to suffer the death of people we love? Is this a question that we can never answer? Where is God in all of this? Does He not know how bad it hurts when our family members or friends die? Is there something we are missing?

These and other life questions will be addressed Sunday morning as “The Gathering Place Family” meets in the Washington Junior High School Library for Bible Study at 9:30 and in the lobby at 10 a.m. for our Pre-Service Connection where we enjoy coffee, juice and donuts. Our Worship Service and Children’s Church then begins at 10:30 in the gymnasium. Come at 7 p.m. and be part of our Wednesday night Bible Study and Children’s Ministry on the third floor above Trends at 120 W. Court St. in Washington Court House.

https://www.recordherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2019/05/pfeifer-mug-B-W-1-.pdf

By John G. Pfeifer

Religion Writer

No posts to display