Sudden Death

   Last night an innocent Calvin College student was hit by another car that was being driven by a man being pursued by the police in southeast Grand Rapids.  It was one of those cases that could quickly be dismissed as a "wrong place...wrong time" thing.  But this all makes absolutely no sense.  "Why does something like this happen?" is the immediate question that many want to ask.  We ask it as if we could arrive at some quintessentially right answer that makes all the nonsense of it disappear.  We ask it as if some remarkable solution were even available.  Here I am, sitting in my home with my family around me, looking forward to the afternoon when I meet with a portion of my extended family.  Wrapped in this bubble of family love, my own health concerns can temporarily take a back seat to the fun and laughter of simply hanging out and catching up with my siblings and their children.  But this other family must now also gather together today but for the far more dire reason of planning a funeral for the senseless death of their loved one.  God, honestly life on earth makes no sense in situations like this.  Teach us all to count our blessings, to remember the value of life, to celebrate love and family, to realize the only real purpose in this life is to please you with how we live an love and interact and respond.  You are God.  You are sovereign.  We have neither your insight or your wisdom.  Teach us again to rely only on you for everything we have and everything we hope to be.  We are nothing without you. Amen.