Questions, Questions, Questions

Can you imagine the conversation?

Jill: I just don't understand the attraction golf has for men.

Mary: Tell me about it! I went golfing with my husband one time, and he told me I asked too many questions!

Jill: Well, I'm sure you were just trying to understand the game. What questions did you ask?

Mary: I thought I asked legitimate questions...like, "Why did you hit the ball into that lake?"

There have been many funny questions asked in ministry - some more easy to answer than others. Why was Samson so strong? One child answered before I could, ‘anabolic steroids’, he said - a good answer I thought. One particular difficult question asked by a child: "Where does your lap go when you stand up?" I did manage that one ok but it makes you think! There was also the one about Jesus and the cross and a smurf (if you really want to know I will share it sometime).

Of course the major question asked by young and old alike is Why? Why has this happened? Why me? Why now? Why them? How I long to be able to provide palatable answers to such heart-wrenching questions asked in this vein, but in all honesty most answers fail to satisfy. Fail to satisfy, because nothing I can say can provide the healing, release and answer people really need at this time. What is it we want when we ask these questions,? A fix? For it all to be well? To change the course of what is happening?

So many have attempted to provide glib answers in my own past when I have asked why?
For example:

I promise it will be ok? It wasn't.
It is the cross you have to bear? Gee thanks (but I'd prefer some help to carry it).
You will be stronger for it? Brill - a good one - but at the moment .... (you can fill in your own words here.)
I will pray for you? Thanks this is great - (really) - but I could do with a hand too.
And from one couple who were, incidentally, ill themselves, “You need more faith." I simply asked them how they were and they mumbled and walked away.

In the whys of my life the most help has come from those who have shared the journey, cried along the way and have shown me Christ. No glib answers, no false promises - just an ability to be God in that situation. To point me to God who is faithful, constant and dependable - who never abandons and never disowns.

In all honesty, I have found more healing in wrestling with these questions with those who are close to me than in finding the answer I longed for. If that makes sense?
So Why? I have no idea but I will journey with you until the answer comes our way.