What a horrendous tragedy today in Minneapolis. The 35W bridge over the Mississippi is a bridge I typically drive on twice a day when I commute; in fact I was on that bridge about 90 minutes before it collapsed. It's so hard to know what to say, do, and sometimes even feel at a time like this. It is almost surreal to get an automated call from my company trying to "account" for all employees: "Press 1 if you are an employee or if you know that the employee at this number is accounted for." I can't even fathom the emotion of the family that isn't able to "Press 1."
This Sunday, churches throughout Minnesota and the nation will be tackling the question of why bad things happen to good people. It will be another opportunity to see the differences in how churches and spiritual leadership understand God and interpret His Word. Times like this and reactions from various spiritual leaders always lead me to wonder how different people, both motivated by a deep desire to understand God, come to very different conclusions about things like these tragedies.
In my opinion, those spiritual debates and theological discussions need to wait. Right now the focus has to be on reaching out to those who have gone through tremendous tragedy. I always encounter multiple people who ask me (since they think I'm "religious") why God lets things like this happen; they are usually surprised to hear my reaction that indicates that I don't know with certainty. Like everyone, I have thoughts on this, but I don't know with certainty. I do believe absolute truth exists (God) and I do believe there is inspiried understanding of God (Bible); however I also believe that my human ability to comprehend falls short. Isaiah wrote that God's ways are higher than our ways and I certainly believe that. I have an interpretation based on my understanding & perspective, but I won't pretend to know all of the mysterious ways of God. In fact, I'm very glad that I am not as smart as God - I take comfort in knowing that God has a bigger picture in mind than I can possibly fathom (both for all of humanity and for my life specifically).
Thank you to those who took the time to call and email to check on my status; it has warmed my heart to know you had me in your thoughts and took the step to reach out. As I told one friend, I feel so blessed to have such a caring extended family.
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1 comment:
Steve,
1) You are "religious"!:-), and
2) While I did call to be sure you were OK, I primarily wanted to call DIBS on that awesome mini-van of yours - - - kidding, lighten-up Mom.
While I wish things like this didn't happen, they do. Life does go on, and various people are affected in various levels by bad "events". I have no personal connection to this tragedy, that I know of yet, so it may be a bit early in interjecting some comic relief, for some ~ sorry (Empathy is NOT one of my strengths)
I believe we all need a "pressure relief valve" (An odd POV or a candid/comedic comment)to cope with every day life, especially when bad things happen.
For my immediate family it was a good day overall. The bridge failed, and that will somewhat affect my commute for at least 1-2 years. Dina, Willy and I safely used that bridge yesterday morning to get to the Mayo Clinic. While there, the appointments were all on time, we had a great lunch, and on the way home we decided to take 35E north rather than 35W to go get our favorite Chinese food. If the three variables above would have been different, we would have had a bad day, a very bad day.
As it happens, we were lucky. Or was it that Pastor Bill caught Dina just before she left the day before to pray with her......
Ooops, I guess I'm "religious" too.
I hope the families more affected by this than most of us are able to find comfort in their own ways.
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