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SUontreat CoUeae’s Student ^oke
I ,
Howard Fisher
December 29, 1985
February 3, 2010
ly. Lord?
Marlene Medefind Van Brocklin
lace To Rest”
By Howard Fisher^
A place to rest
Finally a chgnce to rest
A chanc|;;for me to |ake
A leap of faith and be the best
Findly I can now occupy that
Wide and open space
•catch a nice clean and crisp breath
A space where I can laugh chat
And be myself
Finally a chance » rest
We all prayed so
faithfully, so furiously, so
fervently, for Howard’s
healing. How could God
not answer our prayers?
Why did God allow such
a kind, talented young
man to have such a
pernicious illness? God
could easily have healed
Howard. \\^y didn’t he?
These are the questions
that fill our hearts and
minds. How could a
good, loving, powerful
God allow our brother
Howard to die?
There are no ea:sy
answers to this question
of evil that has perplexed
human beings since the
tragedy of the Fall. The
book of Job addresses
this question and Job’s
friends have many
answers. Among them^
the assertion that Job h5d
done something temble
to deserve such suffering.
That is not a gol&H
answer. Jesus^imself
addresses this when folks
wanted tq'blame those
who had died when a
towerVollapsed in Siloa:
(inHuke 13). Jesus say;
that they were no gui
''than anyone else i
but that we shou
seek God’s me,
we can. Jobj
“Though
will 11
13:15
situations in which we
asked hard questions of
the LORD. Probably
the most di^^ult was
during tjp^^^grs when
we de^
mot
de
want us to have more
children?’’ The answer
that we received was that
he knows what is best
for us. He sees the Im^er
picture. Vi?henwepray
we are askifig for God’s
wisdom and hIStbest.
Sometimes that isn’t what
we think would be^l^st.
I^Ve also sensed that going
pugh those difficult'
was training
The passage
t chapter
ians was
us: “Praise
d Father
(Thrist,
sion
conrfort wE ourselves
have receivied from God.”
We, indeesJ, have been
able to weep with those
who weep and grieve at a
deeper level because we
have known grief
We doift^aiow why
ffoward was taken from
We do know that it
is appiopriate to mourn
and grieve his loss. We
have a Gocpiwho counts
our tears (PS. 56:8). We
do know that our God is
tm%tworthy,and that there
is gocxf^^can come
from Howard’s life and
from his d»th. With Job
we can say, “Though He
slay me, yet will I tmst
Him”.