When Bad Things Happen to Good People....

It's been a bad weekend. Not the first nor will it be the last. But we always wish senseless killings would end and that all of us could live lives or watch television without fear of another bad blot on humanity. At least that's the direction I like to come from.

As I tried to come to grips with things like the Arizona shooting I try to seek answers. I'm not sure I always find them but this morning's RBC Ministries devotional thought in their monthly booklet Our Daily Bread really seemed to hit the mark (you can find them at www.rbc.org on the internet).

I wonder so often why good people so often struggle with life physically, financially, emotionally, and so on. Why was a representative in government service gunned down the way

Gabrielle Giffords was? And what is her future? Why do innocent people die - is it simply that they were in the wrong place at the wrong time? Why are quadriplegics like Joni Earickson Tada terribly crippled doing things as innocent as swimming and diving? For that matter, why do servicemen and their families have to endure death and horrible injuries when servicemen have been doing the best they could to bring peace into a world where peace of all kinds is elusive?

Even closer to home are people like our eldest son who has endured disabling work-related injuries for over two years that don't seen to be cured? Where is encouragment for a friend whose husband has Parkinson's Disease and a son who has needed a kidney transplant (a second one) for months?How about the person who has life challenges that never seem to end and goes through life asking, "Why me Lord?"

I like to think that little publications like this mornings RBC devotional offer great elements of encouragment or perhaps reminders that there is still encouragment in tough, challenging times. Though we may contend with afflictions, we're never alone in them. I like to think that the last line in the above devotion thought is a powerful reminder: Our greatest comfort is to know that God is in control - not simply to prevent bad things but to give us strength to handle things that DO happen.

Have faith. You're never alone.