Yesterday, I was called to provide grief support to teachers at a daycare center. Last Thursday, a mom while driving to pick up her two-year old daughter was killed in an auto accident.
As I listened through their tears, one shared that when she heard about the tragedy, all she could think of was who was going to feed this child, where was she going to live. This mom was a single parent with no family.
Go ahead and say it aloud, "How can your God allow this?” This child will never know the love of her mother. Her teachers are devastated and will probably never get over their sorrow. “What meaning can this tragedy have except to prove that life itself is ultimately meaningless?"
Both teachers shared that they cried in their classroom throughout the day while taking care of their little ones. As I listened, I could only drank in their sorrow that filled the room and let the storm within their hearts run its course.
To his credit, feeling himself sinking into the waves, Peter stretched out his hand to the Lord saying, "Lord, save me." And of course, Jesus saved him. Even in his failure Peter teaches us the invaluable lesson of always reaching out to the Lord when we're in trouble or when we encounter life with so much sorrow.
Many people find it difficult to believe in a loving God because of the suffering of the innocent. As a hospital chaplain for a decade in the pediatric unit and serving now as a trauma specialist, I am no stranger to doctors, teachers, nurses and parents brokenhearted, frustrated and angry because they could do nothing to save or even alleviate the pain of a child.
In the moment of sorrow, I have no wish to change a person’s feelings. “I feel the same way." I am a human being and have the same emotions as anyone else when faced with agony. Nevertheless, although my feelings are the same, my conclusions are quite different from others. What angers us is not God's indifference but our own powerlessness and the pain it causes us. If we can blame it on God or use their suffering to disprove the existence of God, we can relieve ourselves of a great deal of responsibility but we will not solve the mystery or relieve the suffering of these teachers.
Peter wants to walk on water, and Jesus says to Peter, “Come.” When Peter’s initial success morphs into failure, Jesus is there to catch him. Peter, the former fisherman, gets caught in the net of Christ’s love, safety, and assurance. Maybe the response to that failure was an even more important demonstration than the ability of someone to walk on water. No one, in fact, actually needs to walk on water. Many of us desperately need to know that God will catch us when we can’t.
Lord I pray for all my Sonshine parents whose child has died of disease, accidents or unknown cause. We need to know that God will catch us when we can’t understand the meaning of tragedy in our lives. Peter represents all of us as disciples. God does not work by way of miracles in our lives. He doesn't want us walking on water. He simply assured us that he would be with us always: "Go, teach all nations, baptizing them....and behold I am with you always, till the end of the world" (Mt. 28:20). That Jesus is with us always should be enough for us.
