To Charlie Peacock

Re: Submission for Re:Think

"Why did he die?” As I pastor, I have been asked that question many times, frankly, have asked it myself on more than one occasion. But this time the question came from my brother, a urologist, who just watched one of his patients die from kidney disease. He was only 20 years old.

I had no answer for my brother, at least no answer that would satisfy him, or me for that matter. I don’t know why he died. Most of the answers I have heard over the years to questions like that satisfy only theoretically. They don’t work very well in the nitty-gritty of life.

But this much I know. God is good and He knows exactly what He is doing. More and more I am convinced that “Is God good?” is the central question of life. If you doubt the goodness of God, you will either become a closet atheist or a very angry Christian. If you think about it, there really isn’t much difference between those two categories.

I have chosen to believe in God’s goodness. Sometimes I believe because of what I see, often in spite of what I see. But the choice is mine, and I have made it.