For certain things there never is a guaranteed good time. Births are celebrations yet nature seems to have a clock exclusively known to her self. Death can, on occasion, be expected, but is rarely anticipated on all the levels that we experience it. Even moments of love, beauty, and anger happen in ways that we cannot predict. It is as if love is trying to send us a message we refuse to hear.
Coming back to the city where I first experienced the death of a friend triggers reflection. I remember the shock and sense of unfathomable loss I felt with the news. I find myself revisiting the guilt from words used carelessly that I never went back and resolved. I find myself wondering aloud if I have learned anything! Am I stuck in yesterday’s pattern? Could the wandering that started decades ago be continuing even though the fa?ade the surrounds my life and yours continues to strengthen? What opportunities sit in front of me that I am still blinded to after all these years?
Events pop into our lives in surprising ways. We intellectually know many of the sources yet the timing and reality of the event surprise us all. Mothers expecting, the sight of friends unseen for far too long, and beauty played out in the eyes and excitement of a child. The world is full of surprises waiting for us to discover.
Yet there is a sinister side to the life you and I know. Terror strikes in the heart of the innocents. Wars remain unresolved even after unlimited power has been unleashed to squash the enemy. Casual decisions turn into life ending and changing events.
Do we think things are fragile? If we don’t who is the fool? The pending reality of our personal Armageddon is pending. To this and all that is to come Joel reminds us of that day that will come. “What a day! Doomsday! God's Judgment Day has come. The Strong God has arrived. This is serious business!” (Joel 1.15)
Question is; do we understand what is now?
