Death, Divorce and Despair...

This morning I hugged a mother at the funeral of her son who was murdered because of his involvement with drug trafficking. Last week I heard an old friend say he had no hope for his marriage and was going forward with a divorce. This week, also, brought word that a little girl we have been praying for to be healed from cancer is terminal, and the doctors are ceasing treatment.

This is not a shock-effect opening of a blog post that quickly turns your attention to another issue. This is the issue. In recent months I feel that it has been a bombardment of hard and bad news. We have been counseling some young married couples, one facing an impending divorce and another on their way to the same fate. Our years around the families of students on campus now leads us to witness the end of one girl’s life, and to witness others face shutteringly painful treatments of complicated diseases with little hope of recovery. Death, also, has been present; both natural and premature, anticipated and unsettlingly unexpected, from afar and from very close by.

In many years in Brazil relating to young, healthy and capable students from the campus ministry, I admit this is one of the first times we have faced such, well…harsh reality. Of course, here and there, there has been sorrow, bridges burned, passing away of loved ones, and hard times to help people seek God when life doesn’t make sense. This time, it has been an onslaught of such apparent withholding of God’s mercy that I am feeling it weigh me down a bit – and am not sure how to help the ones who are facing these difficult times.

We do believe in our good God and His purpose… sometimes it just takes a lot to face a fallen world and also try to abide by Galatians 6:2, “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”

Pray with us, and for us, please.