God Only Knows, But Still I'd Like an Answer

I'm sure many or most of you have heard the devastating news by now of the passing of Steven Curtis Chapman's little daughter, Maria Sue Chapman. She was only 5-years-old. You can read more about it here.

This hits me especially hard right now given the fact that I'm soon to be a father of a little girl. My heart, my thoughts, and my prayers are certainly with the Chapman family as they begin to walk forward from here.

This tragedy brings to mind so many questions. God, where were you? God, why did You allow this to happen? God, why did this little girl die? God, why the Chapman's? Are you angry with them? Did they do something wrong? What? Why? Where? How?

Tragedies, such as this, also bring with it so many emotions. Anger. Grief. Despair. Doubts. Sorrow. Abandonment. Betrayal. Bitterness. I am very familiar with all of these, as I'm sure, so are you. We've all experienced loss. Someone you knew and loved was taken unfairly, too soon, and quite unexpectantly.

Still, I wonder "WHY?" I too have my personal list of "why's." Why has it been so difficult for Michele and I to conceive a child of our own? Why did we have to endure so many miscarraiges? Why did you allow Michele to have endometriosis? Why does she have to suffer so much pain from it? Why are so many babies aborted every minute when there are so many couples hungry to have them? Why us, are You mad at us? Upset with us? Are you punishing us for an unconfessed sin? Why?

Obviously I'm not God. I'm not even going to begin to think I have THE answer. Or that I could possibly even comprehend the wisdom by which it was formulated. One possible reason I humbly propose, however, for all the "unfair" and "unjust" and just plain "crappy" things that happen in this world is simply this:

SIN.

Because sin is in the world, we have tragedies. Because of sin, this world is broken. Because of sin, things don't always go our way. Because of sin, there is pain. Because of sin, there is grief. Because of sin, babies die. Because of sin, children starve. Becaues of sin, people fly planes into buildings in the name of their "god." Because of sin, Heaven will be the sweetest thing.

God didn't bring sin into this world. Pain was not in His original plan. Suffering wasn't either. Neither were tears. They are all aftershocks from the original sin of Adam and Eve. Like a father has compassion on his little girl who fell and scraped her knee, God too has compasssion on His children as we patiently endure the trials and tribulations of this sin-wrought world. He cries when we cry. He groans when we groan. For you see, they weren't meant to be, and they will soon be gone for good! All praise to our Glorious Redeemer for His matchless grace!

As Promised...Heeeeere's Johnny! (if you're squeamish, don't look)

Can you count the 7 screws? I'll give you a hint: there's 2 screws side-by-side on the far left. Look at how long that one screw is going left-to-right starting at the far left (and it's bent too). The doctor told me before the surgery that some people opt to go back and remove the hardware later. HOW?

Close-up of the damage. Notice the indentation of my forearm on the left side of the strips. That's from swelling.

OK, it really hurt to make this pose happen (thus the grimace). What you're looking at is my left elbow fully exposed post-staple removal. There's some steri-strips, kinda like band-aids, holding the incision closed. That's one big scar. Still pretty swollen and discolored along my forearm towards my wrist.

Believe it or not, I'm really not in a lot of pain. I attribute that to all your prayers, so please keep them coming!

Just call me Capn Hunt & Peck

So, my blogging topic of Heaven could've become a reality for me last night. I gracefully (or graceLESSLY) fell off my attic ladder landing square on the back of my head and left elbow. My head, ironically (no jokes please) is fine. My elbow not so much. One trip to the ER, some X-rays, a whole lot of PAIN and a few hours later served to confirm what I had feared...I broke my elbow. And good too.

Surgery is scheduled for Friday and I would appreciate all your prayers. In the meantime, I'm left to hunt and peck out my blogs for your viewing pleasure. At least I'm right-handed!

Heaven must be full of Lortab!

Revelation 21:1-4 is an exciting piece of Scripture to me, but I especially love verses 3 & 4.

Lately I've been daydreaming about Heaven - what it will be like, look like, feel like, etc. So, this week I'd like to share with all of you my thoughts and hope you'll share some of yours. Are you ready? Here goes!

So, can you imagine what it will be like to never, ever have pain? From my perspective as a pharmacist, trust me, I see this world is wrought with pain. Physical pain. Emotional pain. Financial pain. Divorce pain. Oops she did it again and again pain. Ice cream-frozen-brain-pain. OK, the last one I added for comical relief because I was getting a little freaked out, but I think I made my point. This world has hurts.

From a personal perspective, I've seen my wife - the love of my life - endure the most horrendous, gut-wrenching, "God-are-you-there?" kind of pain over the past 5 years. She has endometriosis. It hurts me to see her hurt so badly. Personally, I've broken my leg twice. The last time the doctor gave me a painkiller called Lortab. I must've been in Heaven 'cause I was feeling no pain while I was taking that medication!

I'm thrilled God has a plan to destroy pain once and for all. Tears are going to be a thing of the past. One day, in Heaven, we all could be sitting around sipping on coffee drinks remembering the days when we actually could cry. Then again, probably not.

What are your thoughts? What pain(s) are you looking forward to be rid of the most?