Pastor Greg Laurie lost his son Christopher in a car accident 3 months ago. I wondered how it might affect his ministry, but, if anything, he has been more on fire for the Lord since that tragedy. Three days after Christopher’s death, Pastor Greg was in church talking about God’s love and faithfulness. Three weeks later he was leading the Harvest Crusade at Anaheim Angels’ Stadium. And now, three months later, he is preaching this weekend at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Pastor Greg still has his passion for reaching others for Christ, as well as encouraging believers.
I went for a walk this morning and listened to a podcast from several weeks ago (I’ve gotten a little behind on both my walking and listening to Pastor Greg’s podcasts). The message was attempting to answer the question, Where is God when tragedies happen? Where was God when Christopher died? I don’t remember all the points (it’s hard to take notes when you’re walking!), but the general idea was that bad things will happen but God still loves us, and that this life is not all there is to life.
When I got home, I decided to check my e-mail and had a message waiting for me that a mom in our homeschool group had passed away this morning.
Stunned. Disbelieving. I knew Donna was terminally ill, and had prayed and cried for her and her family. But that didn’t lessen the shock. As I tried to form words to explain to the kids why I was crying over my e-mail, I remembered the message that I’d been listening to only moments before.
“This is all far from over” were the words that came to mind. But wait, that wasn’t in the message…that’s a line from a movie. But it somehow seemed to fit. It’s not over for Donna.
I went to my Bible, looking for Romans 8:38 to share with the kids: “Death…will (not) be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Before I found that verse, my eyes fell on this one: “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” (Romans 8:18). Donna’s present sufferings are over. But her life is far from over. Thank God.
