Dealing with the Grief

Dad is back in the hospital and is quite disoriented. They believe his confusion is stemming from some kind of infection. To be honest, it sounds like they really have no idea what is going on. Only God does, really.

One of my authors sent me the beautiful passage below from Bill Hendricks' book The Light That Never Dies. He lost his wife to breast cancer six years ago:

God does not want us to deny pain. God gives us permission to feel the pain – right in the middle of Romans 8. For sure, we must never lose sight of those grand and glorious mountains on either end of that passage. The one declares that nothing can condemn us if we are in Christ. The other insists that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. But nestled in between those magnificent peaks is a steep valley. And in that valley is a glacier, very deep, very heavy, and very dark. Indeed, like most substantial glaciers, the ice is so dense and solid that it has turned dark blue. And, like most substantial glaciers, it has gouged a significant scar on the terrain…

The pain we feel is legitimate, and to be expected. Indeed, if someone doesn’t groan when accosted by the fallenness of this world, we need to be concerned about their health and the condition of their humanity. Irrational? You bet. Seemingly out of control? Perhaps. But during the last ten years, I have learned that it is occasionally necessary to go a little bit crazy so as not to go completely insane. Romans 8 reassures me that God doesn’t seem to mind if I go a little bit crazy when tossed about like a rag doll by the futility of this fallen world.