Just some thoughts

I wasn't sure whether to write this blog and those of you who are not Christians reading this may think I am a nutcase! Actually you may have already thought that and this will just confirm it.

For those of you who don't know, my dad died last year. He had been suffering from Parkinson's for over 10 years and died very quickly last September. I was in Australia when I got the news. It had all happened so quickly there was no time for me to fly home and see him. After I heard, I had to go and pick up the kids from school, but arrived a little early, so decided to go and sit in the park across from the school. While I was sitting looking at the the beautiful hills in the distance I saw my dad and his good friend Derek (he had died a couple of years earlier) waving at me in the distance. I have no idea what it was, it may just have been in my imagination. For me it was a special gift from God because I was one of the few people not to see my dad before he died. What was interesting was that, it wasn't dad and Derek as I remembered them or had ever seen them. They was so young and healthy and strong and so full of energy and vitality. Where they were was a place of such joy and happiness, everything was so vibrant and  alive. The suffering of the previous years had just fallen away and was forgotten. 

Now when I think of my dad, I am sad when I think of what he suffered but I am not sad that he died. The place he is in now is so amazing I almost wish he could have gone earlier before he suffered so much. Quite a few people I know have died this year. I am always sad when I hear, especially for their families, but at the same time I am glad for them, for if they are Christians, I know where they are. I hope they are saying hi to dad and Derek. Jeff Vines says, life is not lost if it's in God's hand. It ceases to exist here on earth but it doesn't cease to exist. Every life is to be seen through the lens of eternity.

This is the context that I think of suffering in. Do I float along in a happy bubble cloud all the time? No way (ask Daniel). Do I struggle with suffering? Absolutely. Do I get angry with God for what's happened to Joshua and the other kids that I see suffering? Definitely. Do I cry, rant, shout and express my emotions? Quite often, but I do try to limit this to once a week! What I do know deep down is that whether I understand it or not, one day God will make everything right and everything beautiful again and all this suffering will fade away.