When The Bottom Falls Out

So do you ever ask yourself why things happen the way the do and what purpose they serve? What could have been different, or even if I could just turn back the clock just 5 minutes, how different things could have been. I know for at least myself, they never leave my mind. Sadly, these are the questions that could haunt us for the rest of our lives. About a year ago, I was up at a camp in Michigan helping them set up in preparation for the next couple of weeks. Just as we finished setting up the club room, I get this call from my brother. Trying to understand what he is saying through gasps of air and uncontrollable sobbing, I make out the words, “she is dead Sean, she died”. Over and over again he repeats this. At this point, my stomach drops and I go completely numb. Tears began running down my face. My aunt had passed away unexpectedly. To this day, every time my brother calls or my mother, I get this uneasy feeling in my stomach. My family is or was very close. On my street alone, I had 13 family members that lived there as well. Needless to say growing up was both fun and crazy with 7 cousins all around the same age. To this day, we still do not have a concrete answer on how or why she passed. I am sure many of you can relate with similar situations, maybe even worse but never the less, they are devastating. Could life ever be the same after dealing with something so tragic? Then we start the blame game focusing most of out attention on God. How could He be a God of Love and take something away from me that was accentually a part of who I am?
Fast forward a couple months to November. I was at a conference that was discussing what it means to shape the next generation of leaders to come. One of the key note speaks (Louie Giglio) was talking about God has called us to be a part of his prevailing kingdom. A kingdom that is continually moving forward with Christ at the head. A kingdom that hell itself could not stand in front of. You see, God has set out to build not my church but His. It was at this point that little by little things began to make some sense to me. Yes, Gods kingdom is continually prevailing but it is also rooted in a world that is falling a part. Meaning though we are a part of Gods kingdom does not exempt us to the world in which we live in. John 16:33: “"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." You see, God knew that in this world we were going to have trouble. Work trouble, family trouble, life troubles, you name it. Such trouble that will cause you to question everything you believe in. That is why He sent His son Jesus Christ to this world to be a messenger of HOPE to this world of trouble. Christ tells us that “In Him” we may have peace. To take heart (HOLD ON) for He has overcome the world. The hard part is that there is not always a reason why things happen the way the do (why did he die of cancer, how can a little boy die from leukemia, why did my aunt have to leave us). But in times like this, in times where the bottom completely fall out, there is one thing that we can hold on to and that is the Cross. To some, the cross is a symbol of death. It was a form a roman execution that was brutal, embarrassing, and very painful. The reality of it is that the cross is a symbol of Gods love in that He loves us so much that He sent His son to the cross so that we may have life in him. It was God who loved us first. It is the place in which Christ knows exactly what we are going through. There is nothing that has ever happened to any of us that has not happened to Christ on that day. Hope lies in the fact that Christ overcame the cross; He overcame death so that when the bottom falls out, we know that life will go on because it does not end. I know without a doubt, that this life is only temporary and that one day I will see those who have passed on to be with the Father again.
Again, I don’t know where you are at in life. Maybe after reading this, it still makes no sense to you and that’s ok. I am still wondering why things happened the way they did, what could have been different. Even though I don’t know and may never know, I do know what happened to Christ that day and that means He understands exactly what I am going through right now, and may be the only person who knows what I am going through. So for me, I am going to hang on to that hope! Because that is all I have to hang on to when the bottom falls out.