When it rains

It is really hard to imagine just how difficult it must be for the folks in south east Texas.  At least for me, never having gone through any thing like the devastation they are experiencing, it is tough to find a reference point in which to relate. The pictures in the news have been heart breaking. People have had to stand by helplessly while everything they owned is destroyed.

Few of us if any are given the privilege of going through life without tragedy.  People lose jobs, friends and family die, people are victims of crime, natural disasters occur.  Mourning and death and loss become part of all our lives.

It is easy for me to sit here and offer unsolicited advice on how to cope with tragedy.  Words can often seem trite and incomplete. Platitudes heaped upon the grieving soul can sometimes be like pouring salt into a wound or using a band-aid for a severed limb. They bring little comfort. When we experience tragedy there are however, certain guiding principles in life that transcend even the depths of human calamity.

When all else fails I take a deep breath and look not to the myriad of unanswered questions, but to those things that I know are true. I like to take an inventory of what I know to be tried and tested and faithful.  Inevitably and regrettably often not quickly enough my mind turns to God, the one stable force in the universe.

God? You might say. Do you mean the God who could have stopped all of this and did not? Yes that's the God.  Obviously volumes have been written concerning God and his character and his nature. Here are some things that I fall back upon.

• God will never leave us nor forsake us. (Hebrews 13:5
• God is all love 1 John 4:8
• God is just Isiah 61:8
• We grow through trials James 1:3-4
• God has a plan for our life Jeremiah 29:11

I could list more verses, but I am convinced that that understanding and relying on the character of God are one of the keys to dealing with tragedy.  It does not mean that there will be no pain, it does not mean that there will be no loss. Tragedies occur as Satan takes full of advantage of a world that when given a choice chose sin over God.  Satan seeks to destroy. Satan seeks in times of tragedy to convince us that God does not care or that God does not love us or that God has abandoned us. For those that have a relationship with  Jesus the Bible says Romans 8:35-39 (NIV) Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

For more information on how to have a relationship with God's Son Jesus Christ contact us at www.lifepointealliance.org.

Pastor Jeff

If you live in the Pittsburgh area we invite you to worship with us at LifePointe Alliance Church, 2298 Rochester Road, Pittsburgh PA 15237. Worship begins at 11:00 AM, but join us early for a cup of coffee and some conversation.