In the past 48 hours, the reality of life, pain, and our ultimate inability to do anything to control the life of another has hit me right between the eyes. Making long stories short, the story is contained in the following facts.
A child who grew before my eyes to become an adult has taken her life.
A person who fought enemies known and unknown is at rest.
A young woman who struggled to find hope, in the end gave up searching.
Her spiritual family caught glimpses of her pain but did not know what to do.
Her spiritual family lost track of the saga, trapped in the busyness of their lives.
Her spiritual family lives with the uncertainty of things unfinished.
The confrontation today is not about yesterday pain but today's choice. The reality of life today is clear. “God is putting the finishing touches on the salvation work he began when we first believed. We can't afford to waste a minute, must not squander these precious daylight hours in frivolity and indulgence, in sleeping around and dissipation, in bickering and grabbing everything in sight.” (Romans 13.13) God's testimony is all around us and yet we still search for something else.
Will we search on, passing God by no matter what the evidence, intent on discovering the god within?
Will we fight everyone around us or focus on the journey the Spirit is willing to walk with us? We know the enemies that surround, are we willing to confront the unknown within?
Will we continue to define hope in human and worldly terms? Will we search for the pot of hope that, if stated in human terms, we known ultimately does not exist. Will we confront the gods within and turn to the God without? Will we find hope that vanishes like mist or hope that springs eternal?
God is getting on with business. God has, is, and will reach out to us with everything possible, but he will not force. God offers you and I unconditional acceptance, unlimited love, and unending mercy.
Decision time.
