TRAGEDY AT THE BOSTON MARATHON

Today I was hoping to post some pictures of a couple really cool cenotes we visited while my sister and her hubby came down to check on us.  😉  Was just trying to finish up with some things here around the house in preparation of our friend Elly coming to visit.

My first thoughts this morning were on the Boston Marathon.

One of my sister’s lives very (very) close to the starting line.  My kiddos have fun memories of watching the throngs of people begin this epic race.

My other sister lives and works very (very) close to the finish line.  Her job benefits from the thousands that flock to the city for the weekend’s activities.

The Boston Marathon is one of my favorite metaphors for the race of life.  It’s not really about who comes in first but is more a beautiful thing to see the vast multitude who take on the challenge to be part of something big and feel the full accomplishment of completing the course.

Well, today, things did not go as planned.

Tragically.

Instead of people victoriously running, walking, and wheeling across the finish line, there is confusion and carnage and fear as 2 bombs exploded near the finish line and a 3rd in another location.  Reports right now are varied as to the deaths and injuries from the explosions.

Glad to know Em and Nell and the boys are safe.  Shaken but safe.

Lots of people we know were in the city today amidst the chaos.  One friend wrote this about her teenage daughter who was at the finish line and felt the first bomb and saw the second…

I don’t think anyone can imagine the horror when your child calls you screaming that bombs are going off around her…I just told her to run away as fast as she could…to run out of Boston and that her daddy and I would find her. I have never driven to Boston so fast in all my life. I am so shaken up but so very thankful that she is safe!

A young person from my old hometown wrote…

Since when did going to see Batman, going to school, or running a marathon become death sentences?

Do you have trouble sleeping at night or feel impending doom during the day?

I remember that Mikee was working in Boston on 9/11 and how we could not get in touch with him for hours as the cell phones weren’t working and the trains, buses and subways were closed and he was stuck in the city for the day.

In December I was in Boston to visit my sisters and nephews while Mikee stayed here with the kiddos in Mexico.  During that week the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings happened.  My heart still breaks for those beautiful children and their poor parents and the courageous teachers who will never recover from the horror.  It seems that daily this world is more and more crazy.

Each time we think how much worse could things become and then some new event burst through the headlines.

I don’t know about you but most of the people I come into contact each day are nice people.  So how is it that this world we are living in and raising our precious children in is becoming so terrifying?

“Why?” -is a question asked in tragedy, anguish and pain.

The Bible gives the answer.  Many people have been told by their spiritual mentors that God sends suffering as punishment, or that it is beyond human ability to understand, or that God is not powerful enough or caring enough to do something.  But the Bible says that “God is love.” in 1 John 4:8.  It also explains that evil does have power.

The best answer to the question Why Does God Allow Suffering can be found at jw.org. (please just click on the pretty blue letters)

When we ask God “Why?”, we just need to look to his word and listened to it’s message of comfort and hope.  We can be thankful to know God and know he loves us.  And we can look forward to the words of Revelation 21:3,4 “Look!  The tent of God is with mankind, and he will reside with them, and they will be his people.  And God himself will be with them.  And He will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry not pain be anymore.  The former things have passed away.”

It is comforting for us to know that God does not cause suffering. He is not responsible for the wars, the crimes, the oppression, or even the natural disasters that cause people to suffer.

For now we are all subject to “time and unforeseen occurrence.” (Ecclesiastes 9:11) In a world without His protective rulership, people may suffer because they happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.  But for now…

Remember to tell your special people you love them.

Show kindness generously.

Be grateful for the blessings of each day.

(the top photos of the Boston Marathon are from Google but this bottom photo I took right here in our neighborhood)