I wanted to let you know that my dad was in a car accident this morning. He broke his tibia and fibula. He is hanging out at the hospital today, getting a metal rod in his leg. (Unfortunately the doctors gave up on his car a while ago.) He will henceforth be deemed Iron Man by everyone in his huge, concerned, awesome extended family.
If you’re surprised at my high spirits in such a vulnerable situation, let me explain where I’m coming from.
In times of tragedy, it’s easy to focus on loss. It’s easy to see God as someone who allows meaningless pain, or who really doesn’t care, or who is just sitting back letting our lives hurdle out of control. It just doesn’t seem fair. It doesn’t seem like there’s any way to make sense of it. But tragedy, whether preventable or not, finds its most powerful meaning when it causes us to shift our gaze, against all odds, away from the pain and toward healing.
It takes only one day to die. But if you’re reading this right now, God has decided in His mercy to keep you alive 100% of the days you have lived thus far on this planet. Think about it. Either God is evil and you’ve done a darn well good job avoiding His fiery, planet-destroying anger — or God is good, very good, but just doesn’t want to leave us on this wretched planet forever.
Here’s my response:
Lord, what a merciful and good Maker! I can be quite blind to your goodness sometimes, especially when I get comfortable living with all of the good things you give me every day. I’m sorry it takes tragedy sometimes to remind me of all the things you’re protecting me from. Thank you for all the times You have preserved my life!
People make mistakes, but God’s plan is never an accident. People commit senseless acts, but God always acts with wisdom, forseeing the good that is to come.
Jesus never sought to place the blame, but rather to take it on Himself though it didn’t even belong to Him. Jesus never sought to make us feel guilty or make us pay for how we wronged Him. By dying for us, He has taken away our guilt as well as our debt to Him, if only we accept His sacrifice:
But he was pierced for our rebellion,
crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole.
He was whipped so we could be healed.”~Isaiah 53:5
In tragedy, God doesn’t want our fingers pointed at others for every wrong they commit. (What a tiresome waste of our otherwise-useful hands!) He wants us lifting our hands to Him in order to receive His mercy, to forgive just as we’ve been forgiven, and to realize that He is the only one whose efforts will bring complete justice to the world.
None of our striving can ever fully accomplish this blurry thing we call “justice,” a concept we can’t even really agree on how to define or envision. Yet Christ’s one act on the cross proposes to make all wrongs right in one fell swoop. And for those who reject the gospel, justice will still come at the end of the world. I pray that your sins will be taken away from you before you’re taken away from Him who justifies sinners.
I can truly say I’m looking forward to seeing the eternal good he’s gonna bring out of this temporary affliction. My dad’s body may be hurt, but in Christ, his soul is invincible.
P.S. Just got word that my dad is out of surgery and won’t even need a cast. Glad the car was crushed instead of him, or the pain would have been much greater.
