Too Many Similarities

Last year I wrote this about a missionary family.  They were driving, had an accident and it killed their 3 year old.  They were driving doing the same thing that we were doing.  And, we were driving that week.  They had two children, nearly the exact ages of my two.  They were raising support to leave for the field.  And, she died.  And, it shook their world.  And, it shook mine, too.

Just this past weekend our family was driving to Anderson to spend one night before heading off to our EMC training in Pennsylvania.  We were leaving a church camp where we had just spent the week sharing with the campers and watching them learn, grow, and get excited about Jesus.  We arrived exhausted, but found on the news a few hours later that a church bus doing the same thing crashed and killed 3 people.  Two of the three was a couple, the youth leaders.  They left behind a small 2 year old son.  The same age as my Silas.  The thoughts of Silas trying to understand that we would never come back to hug him.  The thoughts of the youth group...devastating to my heart.  We were even on the same road driving home as they were.

We arrived at our EMC training, and found that this most recent tragedy had directly impacted people here who worked with and/or are related to those involved.  And, I wondered why.  Because I'm human, I wondered why.

The bigger picture is, that the first family has made it to language school now, more quickly.  They have another baby girl on the way.  Their ultimate desire still remains to serve God.  Thousands of lives were touched by the tragedy of the 3 year old dying, and many became believers because of it.

Right now Colonial Hills Baptist Church is being watched.  What will they do?  How will they react?  What impact will this have on some of the teens/church members?  God is at work.

It's hard for me to swallow this lots of times.  Too many similarities make it too hard to be "just another story".  I can easily put myself in place of them.  And, I wonder, "what would I do?"  I pray that I would remember that God is sovereign, and He is at work.  In the midst of the pain, He is there.  And, in the middle of my confusion and anger He is unfurling His great plan.  And, it's hard to remember.  But, it's what I remind myself because I've seen it happen.  I know it's true.  And, He is Love.

I am praying that God uses all the "tragedies" of my life to bring more glory to Him.