Christians don’t have an answer to the question of suffering. Christians have a community of care.
Our oldest grandson was born 8 weeks early. Doctors could not tell us what caused him to stop growing in the womb. Fortunately the discovery was made during a routine appointment. Quick action and four weeks of great care in the NICU combined to give us the joy of watching that 2lb. 8oz. little boy become as long as a love seat at almost seven.
Questions and Tsunamis
My friend Jason Micheli told me I should check out David Bentley Hart’s, The Doors of the Sea. In anticipation of his arrival last weekend I worked through the little book that is not so little in content.
It is clear Hart provided a starting point for Jason to work through the questions that inevitably come when you get sick with cancer. Many wonder what they did to deserve cancer. Others wonder what God is up to do giving a person cancer.
Not Jason. He had questions to be sure. But, he did not think God was doing something to him. His conviction grew more firm as he learned he had a community of care rather than an answer to unanswerable questions.
More Among Many
If you have been following the podcast, you know Jason has been on before. What makes this occasion different is that rather than Skype or Zoom, Jason came to visit.
He preached at Snow Hill – a first for both he and for us. A first for him as he had never preached in a Baptist Church before. A first for us as we had not hosted a United Methodist Church to preach with us.
My hope is we enjoy many more conversations in the future. We may even be plotting.
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