GOD, WHY IS THERE SO MUCH SUFFERING? (4 OF 5)
by Rick White
Scripture: II CORINTHIANS 12:7-10
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God, Why Is There So Much Suffering? (4 of 5)
If I Could Ask God One Question. . .
Rick White
2 Corinthians 12:7-10
(read passage)
Introduction: Gerald Sittser is a professor at Whitworth College in Spokane, WA. In his book, A Grace Disguised: How The Soul Grows Through Loss, he describes the tragedy of losing three family members in one fatal car crash.
I was living in Spokane at the time. My wife Linda was a professional musician and home-schooler. We had 4 children, still very young, only 2 were in school as a matter of fact. And she had done a unit on Native American Culture and we decided to take a Friday afternoon field trip. So we packed up our mini-van with the 6 of us, and my mother was visiting for the weekend so the 7 of us drove to an Indian reservation in Idaho about 2 hours away. We enjoyed the pow-wow, we had dinner with the tribe and that sort of thing, and about 10 minutes outside where we enjoyed the pow- wow we were rounding the curve on a 2 lane highway and I noticed a car coming on very fast and even made a comment to Linda "Boy, isn't that car going fast!" and she said "Yeah!" As it neared us the car jumped the lane and hit our car going 85 miles an hour head-on. It really is a wonder any of us survived. But when the dust settled and when the chaos stopped, my mother, my wife and one of my children were killed. My youngest, John, only 2 at the time, was severely injured but has since recovered. So four of us survived and three died. It was very hard.
Lee: In your book you talk about guarding against the danger of saying "Well, Gerry, you've lost 3 generations of your family in one instant. . .you've suffered a lot more than I have." You kind of say, "You know, that's not the right perspective on suffering in life."
Gerald: I'm very weary of turning any of our experiences of suffering into any sort of celebrity status and going on Oprah, pouring out our heart, and oozing emotion. I say this in my book and I really believe th ...
If I Could Ask God One Question. . .
Rick White
2 Corinthians 12:7-10
(read passage)
Introduction: Gerald Sittser is a professor at Whitworth College in Spokane, WA. In his book, A Grace Disguised: How The Soul Grows Through Loss, he describes the tragedy of losing three family members in one fatal car crash.
I was living in Spokane at the time. My wife Linda was a professional musician and home-schooler. We had 4 children, still very young, only 2 were in school as a matter of fact. And she had done a unit on Native American Culture and we decided to take a Friday afternoon field trip. So we packed up our mini-van with the 6 of us, and my mother was visiting for the weekend so the 7 of us drove to an Indian reservation in Idaho about 2 hours away. We enjoyed the pow-wow, we had dinner with the tribe and that sort of thing, and about 10 minutes outside where we enjoyed the pow- wow we were rounding the curve on a 2 lane highway and I noticed a car coming on very fast and even made a comment to Linda "Boy, isn't that car going fast!" and she said "Yeah!" As it neared us the car jumped the lane and hit our car going 85 miles an hour head-on. It really is a wonder any of us survived. But when the dust settled and when the chaos stopped, my mother, my wife and one of my children were killed. My youngest, John, only 2 at the time, was severely injured but has since recovered. So four of us survived and three died. It was very hard.
Lee: In your book you talk about guarding against the danger of saying "Well, Gerry, you've lost 3 generations of your family in one instant. . .you've suffered a lot more than I have." You kind of say, "You know, that's not the right perspective on suffering in life."
Gerald: I'm very weary of turning any of our experiences of suffering into any sort of celebrity status and going on Oprah, pouring out our heart, and oozing emotion. I say this in my book and I really believe th ...
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