Three stories to begin our week. One is about an old farmer who was born in a half-dugout (the back half was dug into a hill and the front made of mud bricks) near Buffalo Gap, Texas in the late 19th century. He was an inveterate inventor and dreamer. He raised sheep, farmed wheat and cotton, sold furniture and rural real estate and ran a dry cleaners to feed his family of 5. In his lifetime, his oldest son was a US Navy Ace in WWII and later killed in a tragic plane crash. His oldest daughter was diagnosed with leukemia and was a guinea pig for Wadley Blood Center in Dallas for years seeking a cure. She died prematurely in her 40s. His youngest son’s wife had one of the very first open heart surgeries back in the 1940s. It shortened her life and she died while her daughter was just a toddler.
In the middle of the Great Depression, he owned a dry cleaners shop in Megargel, TX where today the population is less than 250. He invented the foot treadle for the steam press, an invention that revolutionized pressing clothes. His partner stole the invention and patented it.
One night a terrible fire broke out in the local bar. It quickly spread to other businesses and as the owner raced to save his shop, he soon discovered that there was no way to do so. In desperation he grabbed the clothing he was cleaning and began throwing it out in the street before going back to try to put out the fire. Not only did the fire consume the shop, the fires burned all the clothes in the street that were not stolen by the fine citizens of Megargel. His middle son overheard his dad say, “The Lord gives, the Lord takes away, Blessed be the Name of the Lord.” That man was my grandfather. No easy answers. Bad things happen to good people.
The second story is about a missionary family with three wonderful children. The youngest was just 17 months old when he fell in the bathtub and drowned. Can you imagine the grief and the pain? No easy answers. Bad things happen to good people.
The third story is about my friend from childhood, Elmer Gray. Elmer and my Dad worked together on a church staff in CA back in the 1950s. Elmer and his wife had a child late in life after their other children were grown. Little Johnny was the apple of their eyes. One evening after church, Johnny fell in the bathroom of their home, hit his head and did not survive. During the funeral that my Dad and I conducted, we were following the family car to the cemetery when Elmer turned around and gave a wink and a nod to my Dad. He understood that “The Lord gives, the Lord takes away, Blessed be the Name of the Lord.” No easy answers. Bad things happen to good people.
Why in the world do tragedies like this happen to the people of God?
That brings me to the story of Abraham and Isaac. Perhaps there is a clue here before we begin unpacking the story of Job. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvsm3dQGLmc. When God instructed Abraham to take his only son – the son of Promise – up the mountain and offer him as a sacrifice to Him, do you suppose He did that so that He (God) could know how much faith Abraham had?
I don’t think so. I think this was so that God could allow Abraham to know how much faith Abraham had.
I do not know what unexpected and painful event may enter your life this week, this year. I do know that God is not absent from any of it, and as we began this series, let’s be reminded that God does whatever He pleases, with whomever He chooses, whenever He wishes. He IS God and we are not.
written by one of our partners in ministry at FBC, Dr. Dick Ivey
FBC Celina, TX 