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Saturday, July 14, 2012

The following is an excerpt from our fictional novel Old Bones that I'd thought I'd share:

“Nice people like Marcus shouldn’t have things like this happen to them!” Allie said, her voice filled with emotion and her eyes brimming. 
“Bad things happen to good people Al; sometimes they are just in the wrong place.  Sometimes they just hang with the wrong people.  It’s part of the reason why I always make such a big deal about who you choose for your friends.  Sometimes they are into things and you suffer for their acts just by being near them.
“But why does God let that happen?  Aren’t good people supposed to be protected by God?” Allie was obviously more emotionally affected by all of this than he had thought.  This wasn’t a conversation that Chris had ever spent much time thinking about or discussing with her as she grew up.  He had sheltered her…maybe too much.  Maybe a mother could have made a difference.
“Allie, I don’t think God reaches down and puts a big silver shield around us.  He wants the best for us, but we also have the free will to do whatever we choose.  We are put in this world and have to learn to live in a way that is good for us, not damaging.  We need to make good choices.  He gives us a bunch of good rules to help, but sometimes random things just happen.  I can’t explain it.  It stinks.  It’s scary.  But it can also be amazing.  God can use these “bad” things for amazing good.”  But Chris couldn’t help but wonder what could be good about any of this.
Marina was watching Chris through all of this with a look he couldn’t quite figure out.  Maybe she thought he was being preachy.  He wouldn’t blame her, it sounded that way to him as well.  He thought rather abruptly that maybe she was an atheist or worshipped some arcane rituals involving dead cats.  He’d never talked with her about any of that sort of thing.  He stopped talking so long that Marina spoke up and he wondered if a mockery of his faith was about to be brought forth.
  Marina turned to Allie, “I guess it’s all in how we deal with these situations when they do happen that matters, and how we trust that this whole earthly thing is just a dress rehearsal for the real thing.  A lot of people look at stuff like this and say ‘all things work for good’ like it’s part of God’s plan, but I think most of the time that is a misunderstanding.  Free will was given to us and we have a darned strong habit of using it.  We are not God’s puppets.  The ‘all things work for good’ part is that none of it matters if your focus is on what God can do after the bad happens. You can’t let the horrible stuff distract you from what the end game is.  It’s not easy to accept, I know.” 
Chris was a bit surprised at how animated Marina was with what she was saying, and thought maybe she had lived some of the horrible stuff she was referring to.  At least he guessed he didn’t have to worry about any “dead cats” as Allie’s cat jumped into Marina’s lap. 
He chimed in as he sat down, “We all want to think God will protect us from everything if we show our faith in him.  People can’t accept the idea that a good God would let bad things happen.  I think the greater truth is that bad exists in the universe, and God can take a bad situation and allow something really good to come from it.  Right now the thing to focus on is that we got Marcus good medical care and brought him to advanced neurological care early.  He has a good shot.”  He hoped he sounded more convinced than he really felt. 
Alicia just sat and stared at her tea.  Chris could tell she was thinking, and he felt bad.  Perhaps he had been too blunt and taken away her hopes and beliefs in what he had said.  He knew what he had said was what turned a lot of people away from faith…that God should seemingly be so without care about his creation.   That was so far from the truth, and there was so much more to it, but tonight was not the night for that conversation.

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