June 12, 2024
Leadership Notes
Tragedy. A mere fraction of a second or a fraction of an inch can mean the difference between something horrible happening or not. We will never know how many times in our lives we’ve unknowingly evaded disaster. How many times has something bad happened when you thought, “If only I’d left one minute earlier or later? If only I’d taken a different route? If I had just stayed home that day?” Life is often lived among the narrowest of margins.
Last week, a family was vacationing out east. Some folks were playing badminton. A little six-year-old girl was watching from the sideline when a player’s racket snapped in two. A piece hit the child in the head. She died later in the hospital. It’s a tragic event almost too horrific to comprehend.
I’m thinking here about the wonderful song we sing:
Blessed Be Your Name
In the land that is plentiful
Where Your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your name
Blessed Be Your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed Be Your name
Every blessing You pour out
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name
Blessed be Your name
When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's 'all as it should be'
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there’s pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name
Every blessing You pour out
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say…
You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, blessed be Your name
The little girl’s father writes, “The only reason we can even still stay sane is the grace (God) shows to us in bringing us this far. We know what he’s done, where he’s brought us, and where he’s bringing us. It’s the path that is unknown and often terrifying. Yet, even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, he is with us.”
He goes on to say, “Like gold at the bottom of a deep dark well, there was and is evidence of God’s grace in this utter tragedy, we just had to be willing to plumb the depths to see it.”
“You give and take away/You give and take away/My heart will choose to say/Lord, blessed be Your name.” This beautiful song is from Job 1:21:
And he said, “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked
shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken
away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”
Out of nowhere, tragedy strikes. People once asked Jesus the question we all ask when bad, horrible, terrible things happen. Why? Specifically, they zeroed in on fault…did this bad thing happen because of the sin of the person or the sin of the person’s parents?
Do you remember Jesus’ answer? He basically said they were asking the wrong question. He said, when tragedy strikes them, will they be right with God? In other words, life’s tragedies are inevitable. There’s no “if” tragedy strikes, only “when.” Are you in a saving relationship with Jesus Christ? When your tragic moment strikes, will you be with Jesus in heaven?
Life is unpredictable. You never know what will come flying at you. Or crashing down on you, either literally or figuratively. When it happens, will you still be able to sing, “Blessed be the name of the Lord?” If you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you will. You will.
And now, your Moment of Spurgeon:
“I am certain that I never did grow in grace one-half so much
anywhere as I have upon the bed of pain. Where God takes such
pains to teach, we ought to be at pains to learn.”
With Much Love and Affection,
Richard
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