A Heavy Heart of Praise
All too often we pray for safety traveling with the same mindless sense of duty as when praying before a meal. We have been given another reason not to do so.
Wednesday, hundreds of students were leaving Maranatha for friends' and family's homes far and near. In the shuffle, little attention was being paid to the blizzard conditions in northern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. That was where J.P. Podpora and Jason Hall were headed, though. I don't know many of the ensuing details, but apparently the road conditions caused them to have a collision with an SUV. Jason was critically injured and J.P. was killed.
I did not know J.P. well. The only time I had talked with him at length was when we played Monopoly on my PDA during tech rehearsal for Fall Fest. I have seen him around school many times, though, always with a ready smile. Ironically, he had been brought up at my lunch table the day he left school. He had entered the dining hall and engaged a friend in conversation. We all commented on how he was such a nice guy and how he seemed so ready and willing to do whatever God had for him. Little did we know God's plan for him on earth was almost complete.
I can't understand this--I don't have the mind of God. I do know, however, that He is still in control, and that He loves his children and has a perfect plan for them. So while we feel a great sense of loss, we can rest in the goodness of God.
And while we feel so helpless to work in this situation, please join me in the most effective activity possible--prayer. Pray for J.P.'s family. I can only imagine the pain they are feeling right now. Pray for Jason and his family. As of the most recent information I have, he is still in a coma, having had surgery on his legs, which were horrible injured in the accident. He also had both lungs collapsed and sustained severe head trauma. Both he and his family are in need of our prayers and support. Pray also for the Maranatha family. We have lost one of our own, and, as we learned in Jonathan Leber's tragic accident last spring, his loss will not be easy. But may we not allow our pain to cause us to lose sight of God's overwhelming goodness.
Wednesday, hundreds of students were leaving Maranatha for friends' and family's homes far and near. In the shuffle, little attention was being paid to the blizzard conditions in northern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. That was where J.P. Podpora and Jason Hall were headed, though. I don't know many of the ensuing details, but apparently the road conditions caused them to have a collision with an SUV. Jason was critically injured and J.P. was killed.
I did not know J.P. well. The only time I had talked with him at length was when we played Monopoly on my PDA during tech rehearsal for Fall Fest. I have seen him around school many times, though, always with a ready smile. Ironically, he had been brought up at my lunch table the day he left school. He had entered the dining hall and engaged a friend in conversation. We all commented on how he was such a nice guy and how he seemed so ready and willing to do whatever God had for him. Little did we know God's plan for him on earth was almost complete.
I can't understand this--I don't have the mind of God. I do know, however, that He is still in control, and that He loves his children and has a perfect plan for them. So while we feel a great sense of loss, we can rest in the goodness of God.
And while we feel so helpless to work in this situation, please join me in the most effective activity possible--prayer. Pray for J.P.'s family. I can only imagine the pain they are feeling right now. Pray for Jason and his family. As of the most recent information I have, he is still in a coma, having had surgery on his legs, which were horrible injured in the accident. He also had both lungs collapsed and sustained severe head trauma. Both he and his family are in need of our prayers and support. Pray also for the Maranatha family. We have lost one of our own, and, as we learned in Jonathan Leber's tragic accident last spring, his loss will not be easy. But may we not allow our pain to cause us to lose sight of God's overwhelming goodness.
At 9:31 AM,
God is still good, and God is still God. Though we don't understand all that He is doing, the most important question we should be asking is not, "Why did God do this?" Rather, we should be asking, "What will we do with the time that God's left to us?"