"Why?"

If you were allowed to ask God any question and be sure you would get an answer, what would you ask him?

Over the years, Craig and I have had the pleasure of working with Alpha, a forum that invites people to explore questions they have in regards to faith, life, & God.

"If you were allowed to ask God any question and be sure you would get an answer, what would you ask him?" is their opening question.

I know right!?! Where does one even begin???

I just recently trained some volunteers and organized their participation in an event with the same purpose.

The most common question was "Why?"

"Why?"

Often with a tone of exhaustion, grief, or confusion.

When encouraged to unpack it a little more, it went to "why war, famine, pain, struggle, suffering?"

Good question!

Why is life so hard?

I have recently become friends with a woman who's has lost everything, her home, her homeland, where she grew up as a child,  met her husband, the home they built their life together in, the place where she gave birth to her babies,me here she raised them. She has been separated from her oldest child for 3 years, she missed being present at his wedding.  She has lost access to the place she buried her parents, she wonders if she will ever smell the fresh unique scent of her homeland after the rain. The feel of the dirt in her hand. How the light came through the kitchen window, the sound of the market and the freedom to speak to people here in her native tongue. She and her family have lost so,so much! Why??

We have friends who struggle with health issue after health issue. The cost, even with health care, is breaking the bank. Why???

Did you know that Uganda still has child sacrifice happening in certain parts of the country? Seriously. WHY?!?

"Why?" is a good question.

Honestly, there is no satisfactory answer, until you recognize the consequences of demanding our independence from God and wrestle through sin, our need for Jesus and who God really is, there is no answer that can even start to give some level of satisfaction.

Even though I have wrestled with all that, I still struggle. The best description for me is the image of a tapestry. Intricately and beautifully made, as a whole, it makes sense. It shows a beautiful picture. This is God's perspective on time, history, you, me. He sees it all. All at once, all the time. He is infinite.

I, however, am finite. I have limits. I see this one piece of the tapestry and it makes no sense. I may see themes of movement, I can identify color schemes. But truly,  I have no clue how it fits into the whole. I do not see how it works into something larger. I have no reference to make sense of it.

This is my perspective on life, the world, and it's craziness.

And this is God's.



















The Vintage 15th Century
A magnificent representation of the grape-gathering and the wine press


Are you wrestling with the hardships of life? Have you resigned yourself to "life is hard and then you die?" Are you angry at God that there is so much pain in the world? Are you struggling to make sense of it all?

There is a lot of pain and very few, if any, answers. What do we do with that?!?

Take heart my friend!

God is not scared of your hard questions. He wants to go there with you.  In His mercy and grace, he may allow you some answers. He will give you strength and hope for the next step, day, moment.

And one day...

One day.

He will let us see it all.

1Corinthians 13:12 The Message

We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!