For the past week, thousands of people have prayed on Ben’s behalf and have waited to see what God’s answer would be. This morning we got our answer and the answer was “no.”
Though it is not the answer any of us wanted, it is the answer we were given.
But we still call Him Father. We still call Him good. We still call Him loving. We will probably never understand in this life why God answered the way He did. However, one thing I am certain of is that without a doubt Ben was a light in a dark world and his impact, his love, his smile are certainly still seen and felt. His death is felt across the world, but any believer will know that he isn’t really dead but asleep (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18) .
One Sunday when I was at home, our preacher, Chris, said something about how not everything happens for a reason, but that some things just happen. When I first heard that sermon, I wasn’t sure what to make of it. At the time, most of my thought process hinged on the idea that everything happened for a reason like most people believe and that all things happened for the good of His kingdom like most Christians believe.
Now I think I know why there’s something flawed in thinking all things happen for a reason because when you start to think that everything happens for a reason you start to ask God “why” and when you start to ask why, you start to walk a tightrope between a shaken faith and a shattered faith.
So I choose not to ask why but to thank God for the few years He allowed me to get to know Ben, to thank Him for the tremendous display of faith from his family and friends during this time, and to thank Him for His indescribable gift (2 Corinthians 5:19) because this morning an angel took flight.
