Notes from the hospital

On Wednesday morning of this week my father had some emergency surgery-please continue to pray for him-which prompted me to spend several days by his side in the hospital. The funny thing about life is no matter where you find yourself lessons abound. From the inside of a hospital many of life's questions are asked. A close friend of mine reduced them all to the single question-"what does God look like". While in a future post we may explore that overriding question for now I am going to ask and answer some of these basic questions. Over the next few days and weeks please stay tuned as we take this newly appointed road.

1) Why did this happen to me?- In the egocentric world that we live in for many people this is the first question and the one they initially assign the most value to. Many people want a direct answer for their plight in the midst of a revolving world. They expect God directly had something to do with why they are sick-Have a committed sin? Does God hate me? Why would God let this happen to me?- all these questions sometimes aimed and sometimes leveled at God as the one to blame. This on some levels is a legitimate question-if your looking for the right answer. If you ask this question for medical purposes such as: What can I do to prevent it in the future?, What can I change about my life so this doesn't happen to me? This is, however, an unprofitable question to ask if your looking to assign blame to God. The wise man writes "The rain falls on the just and the unjust" or to put it another way- things just happen. Without rhyme and reason sometimes things just happen. It can drive all of us crazy trying to find a point in a completely random event-things just happen. People have accidents and fall, sometimes hearts fail in the midst of life, sometimes those who are the strongest physically have the weakest hearts and minds. The other answer to this question is maybe the event has nothing to do with you. Your misfortune could be the consequence of an other'ssin. God will forgive sin but will not bypass the consequences of sin. For example if a drunk driver crosses the line and causes a head on collision leaving someone dead or handicapped for the rest of their lives it is entirely the result of sin and not the Innocent party that is to blame. I have had the unfortunate experience of talking with those who have had life altering events that are entirely the result of an other's sin. Some grow from it and use there brush with death to refocus their lives. Others blame God, themselves, society and anyone else they can to delay their own emotional and psychological recovery-"this is vanity".

My friends the only thing in this life we can truly control is our disposition. We can control how we react to the things of life. We can look for good and opportunities to grow. We can find perspective and further understand the brevity of life and look forward to a "city not built with hands whose builder and maker is God". We can choose to be happy. I am going to say that again we can choose to be happy. If we want to be positive and happy we have to choose that course. If we want to look at the bad, assign blame and ponder the never profitable question "why did this have to happen to me" we will be miserable, downtrodden and lonely people who have chosen a life of misery over a life filled with hope.

MPE