Making sense of God's nonsense!

There has been a large amount of conversation in the past several weeks about the many tragedies that occur in life. I can proclaim with vigor that have had my share of them. I do not believe that they will cease to exist or lighten in capacity, but honestly it is taking more of a toll on me than I thought or even expected! Whether they are personal and we feel them only in our hearts and minds...or those tragedies that are afar in places such as Chile and Haiti or near such as New Orleans and the flood plains of the United States...nevertheless there is a question that is asked that I will attempt with earnest dedication to answer..."God...why me?"

I can say that I have not asked that question, but I have (even as early as last night) thought about asking...in all that I have gone through in my life so far. Even 8 and a half months after the untimely death of my mother who was my all and my heart I can say that there have been several moments when I have wanted to ask God that question, but had sense enough not to. I looked at my reference point in my life's journey and figured that it was not my concern to question but surely a right to do so.

I will not ever believe and I implore you not to let anyone say or convince you that you can not question God! Or if you can not question if there is a God or not. And even to question why God would "allow" some of the most horrid and painful things to happen to you, others, and the world as a whole. With these pondering thoughts in mind we can say that there is a very important factor that is not represented with our questions and wonder...free will.

Take any Biblical tale and study it. Take your life experiences and analyze it. You will often see that free will is not determined or touched by God. We have decisions that we make and NOT everything is God...nor is everything of the Devil. We do what we feel will either benefit us or what we think is right...later on and as we live on, we find out if those decisions were the best in the long run. But empirically...for that particular instant, the decision or decisions we make are the ones that best fit our frame of mind at that time! Free will has nothing to do with God!

Somehow and some way we find a way to make free will and make ALL of our struggles God's fault. If that is not the case then we are upset and angry when God does not do what WE want Him to do when WE want Him to do it! Furthermore, people cherry pick scriptures from the Bible to say that God is not supposed to allow us to go through pain or suffering and that He is the source of it.

For example, a person that is close to you dies at a specific point in time when you asked and prayed to God for that person to live, and you say to God... if you would have done such and so then that person would still be around today! NOT! That decision is not in our realm to make...thus we can not say that God had it out for you or that person.

Another example... A farmer loses all of his crops to a torrential rainstorm and loses his crops and ultimately can not feed or support his family. He then says, God why did you allow my farm to be overrun by the flood waters? This is your fault that I have lost these crops and not have to file for some kind of assistance to recoup the crops and money lost from this harvest! NOT! The farm may be lost but God did not have it in His mind for you to lose your crops and to make your farm desolate and not able to bring forth food. You can't control the weather and sorry it just happened that way.

There are many other examples I could name of death, floods, earthquakes, typhoons, wildfires, and so on and so forth. All of us could name from the broad and practical to the personal and unfathomable a wide portal of things to blame God for and hold Him responsible for your unhappiness with the situation.

With the trials that we endure in life there is a common theme...IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE! So since we know that..we can take the FREE WILL explanation and fit it into the aforementioned theme and also place blame and anger at God there as well! We have heard that... Bad things happen to good people. So? Don't you know that...Good things happen to bad people! Believe it or not...it DOES makes sense.

God taking my mother back and allowing her to pass away...allowing her to be injured by the hands of a surgeon... a young girl being raped by their father...a child killed by a stray bullet...people born with no limbs...people born with limited mental capacities...people born blind...a woman who can not get pregnant...a man that is on disability to the point he can not work ever again...a President of a country that makes decisions that cause people to lose their jobs...con artists swindling the elderly...a criminal killed while in prison...a judge's decision that lets a murderer go free...an earthquake that decimates homes and human lives...a hurricane that rages a land and it's people...a drought that causes disease and famine...not being able to pay your bills...being broke that you can not buy food...being alone with no family and friends..on and on and on!

In a personal sense, I have had to come to grips and once again ask is it ALL God? NO! Free will steps in again. I can explain by using my latest tragedy about my mother. Without telling the details of my mother's surgery I can say that the surgeon made some dumb choices and choices that led to my mother's death...BUT the surgeon does not have the power to give life or to impale death...only God does! I remember saying to God if you want to work a miracle please do, and if you want her back please take her. Whatever decision You want to make Lord, yo do it and I trust that you will take care of me. He made the decision and I have had to live with His decision.

God does have control over the storms, the earthquakes, the volcanic eruptions, the ability to give life and take it away...that does make sense. Why does he allow it knowing that it causes hurt and pain? Why does He allow others to have so much and some to have so little? Why does He say trust in Him and the more you trust the more it seems you keep getting lower and lower on the food chain of life? Why is it that people continue to tell you to pray and continue to tell you to read your Bible when you have already done that continuously with no change? Why is it that people say that God loves you and that God is love, when some of the actions that take place in life is full of evil and hate? BECAUSE IT MAKES SENSE!

Everyone it not going to live forever. If the rain does not fall how will the flowers and plants we need, grow? If some natural occurrences do not happen to destroy...how can room be made for something new and sustainable to be brought into the world? If my mother would not have died, how would I grow to be better and more mature and to understand that these things are supposed to happen to bring you closer to God?

Good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people, but it will not always be that way! It is a cycle that we must know how to handle...it is a balancing act. We can not be given too much of a good thing because we will not respect and appreciate it and not take it for granted. On the other hand we can not be given too much of a bad thing for we will think that no good can ever happen and that life is all horrible and awful! You can be happy and smile that a child is born and cry not knowing what that child may have to endure in their life. We can bawl and be sad that a family member or loved one has passed away and then smile and be happy that they can be at home with the Lord because they did their work on this Earth and that God is granting them their life's reward and his promise to be fulfilled! How can you know the difference between good and bad, awful and grand, horrible and happy, if we are not shown all aspects and examples of it?

There is an understanding that is deeply fixed within all of these instances...YOU ARE ALIVE TO SEE IT! We are not owed a next day to live, nor to be able to use all of your faculties, limbs, eyesight, nor to have the funds to pay bills, nor to even have bills, and the list goes on. It makes sense! You do not have to be in the land of the living or as fortunate as you are to even survive, endure, overcome, triumph...which ever adjective you would like to describe your abilities. Look at where you were and where you are now.

Be glad that those who are dead and gone have the ability to revel and relish in the life they lived and are up in Heaven (most of them if they got there) having a good time with God! This blog may serve as a reminder to all of us that as much as it does not make sense...nonsense...it makes a lot of sense. No need to be mad...although you have every right to be mad and upset with God for as long as you want to...but as upset as you are with Him and as mad as you can humanly be with Him...that will never surpass the amount that He loves you and I!

I Love You, But God Loves You More!