My family experienced a tragedy recently with the loss of one of my older brothers. The type of thing no one should ever have to go through. The type of thing that sends shockwaves through a family and a community.
I have been wondering how this would intersect with this blog and today something came to me. I want to reiterate how important it is to think through and analyze your theology, especially that of God’s goodness and suffering/difficulty in this world.
Some time ago I posted a resource written by Greg Boyd on this topic (Link) While I am sure he and I would see certain things differently, I believe he has an example of a theology that takes very seriously God’s ultimate goodness and the reality of suffering without, my opinion here, the shoulder shrug version you will hear in most churches. You see, saying, “well, God is good and one day you will understand” all sounds great on the mountaintop, but in the valley it can be earth, and even worse, faith-shattering.
I see this very clearly in our current tragedy. Thanks to the rock God has built over the years for me I am able to process through this tragic event while still being there for my family during things like Thanksgiving and a recent birthday. I cannot say the same for others whose foundation seems to have crumbled at the time they needed it most.
God is good. God is love. That I am sure of. That is the foundation to build your life and family on. That foundation that becomes so very important during the worst of storms.