Roger

During times of tragedy people often ask, “Where is God in all of this?”  And I think it’s an honest question.  One that begs a response! To be sure, life can be difficult and even overwhelming at times.   We need help from above!   We need One greater than we to carry us through such times.   I love David’s prayer in Psalm 63:1-3, “Hear my cry O God; give heed to my prayer.   From the end of the earth I call to You when my heart is faint.   Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.   For You have been a refuge for me.” During heart-wrenching times we need to know that someone cares, that someone is “there.”   So, where is the Lord when circumstances come crashing down around us?   When the doctor’s report is hard to accept?   When loved ones face their mortality?   When we face substantial losses of all kinds? Another psalm, one of my favorites, reminds us that God is NEAR during these times.   “The Lord is ne...

Job is perhaps the Bible’s premiere example of suffering.  His story provides partial revelation to the age-old question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” Following his loss of income, transportation, ten children, health, and presumably his wife’s affections, Job summarizes his catastrophic situation by saying, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away.   Blessed be the name of the Lord” (1:21b).   Job momentarily contributed his losses to God’s dealings in his life.   I personally believe this was Job’s grief talking.   It was not totally accurate, but it was his truth in that moment.   In the very next verse it says, “Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God.”   In other words, it appears that Job came to a righteous resolve and grieved appropriately.   It appears he shifted the blame for his traumatic circumstances away from God.   As I write, fires in California continue to incinerate thousands of acre...

Greetings to all left-handers out there!  It’s been stated that “left-handers are in their right mind,” but I guess it depends on who you ask. When in a group setting, I like to poll.   Today I sat at a table with nine colleagues and observed that three of us were “lefties.”   That’s thirty percent!   Researchers tell us that approximately ten percent of the population is thought to be left-handed.   That means there could be upwards of 700 million lefties around the globe.   We are raising the bar at my workplace! I’m the middle of seven kids and the only left-handed one in the bunch.   Statistically, that’s very low. Some time back, I was sitting at a nurses’ station in an assisted living facility.   Six nurses sat around me and it suddenly dawned on me that all of us were south paws.   What were the odds?   We all high-fived one another and enjoyed a good laugh.   History supports the fact that left-handers have “left”...