Thoughts Along the Journey

This past weekend, our oldest son had a role in a local stage production of "The Outsiders."  I have never read the book or seen the movie.  It was a sobering look at the lives of teens separated by social status.  The "greasers" and the "socs" (well-to-do social upper crust) were the groups created in the mind of S. E. Hinton. Yet they represent the divide between many types of kids in any decade. The climactic moment of the play is a rumble.  Our son played the part of Paul, one of the socs, who begins the fight.  As the young men began swinging their fists, suddenly, our son was being pummeled and knocked to the ground.  I knew this was coming, and it still made me slightly sick to my stomach.  I knew he was really going to be okay...yet I wanted to run to the stage, drag my eldest to safety, then head back onto the stage and straighten things out! As I was watching, though, a thought came to me:  how does God feel when we're getting beat u...

My past posts have revealed some great moments of 2013, as well as some really difficult ones .  And, as most of you are already aware, my cousin's daughter, Claire passed away at the end of 2013, after being shot in the Arapahoe High School shooting in Colorado. Life is full of ups and downs, isn't it?  When we're in the midst of the "downs," we often feel they will never end.  But when that glimpse of sunshine comes blazing through the dark clouds of our storm, we are reminded that God is still God.  We are prompted to recollect all the times He has shown us His love and mercy.  If we really ponder that, we KNOW it is true.  I sat and wept on January 1st, as my cousin Mike shared such amazing words of forgiveness for the killer of his daughter.  He reminded the audience of the need to end the cycle of anger, hatred, and bitterness.  A young man named Karl took Claire's life and, just a few seconds later, took his own life.  Mike offer...