The Problem of Pain

Today, I had to pull out a student from chapel and, with her mother present, pray for her Uncle as he is apparently on his death bed. It is at times like these, when I truly realize my incompetencey as a minister. What words can I offer to comfort this sort of pain? What can I do? The painfully obvious answer is absolutely nothing other than pray. These events, while traumatically painful beyond all comprehension, should bring each one of us to a pause. As God calls this man into eternal fellowship, we are called by the spirit to evaluate how we view life...and death for that matter. Life, how infintely a short thing to understand. Perhaps, now, after considering the sum of our actions in life, we can be changed by the power of God to be a different person that brings glory to him. Having an eternal perspective that comes only from Christ, we are challenged by death to live differently than the present. In terms of death, for the believer and non-believer alike, an eternity awaits. Death to those of us with hope is not an end, it is not the end, it merely is another door through which we all must pass. We step into eternal fellowship with God and leave the temporary darkness of this world and move into a realm where no darkness is tolerated. The other option, well, although it is real place and real people dwell there, is rather painful to discuss. Hell... a word we use frequently, yet do not fully understand at all. However, I sincerely hope that God can use to me keep people from this literal God-forsaken place. It is truly a privilige to minister to hurting people, to show them Christ's love. As Christians, it is our calling to carry each others burderns because the other option is nothing short of the failure of the kingdom. May God use each one of us to live for heaven, to point people towards it, and keep our eternal perspective on life. God will accept nothing less, and we can give him nothing more than all of who we are. Now...get out there and show some love!!!!