Ugh

  As a minister, I hear about a lot of terrible things that happen to people.  There's something about ministers that encourage people to open up.  If someone doesn't have something terrible in their own life, they'll often share the most tragic medical situation they can think of that's going on in someone else's life.
  For a time, I tried to come up with pastoral answers.  There is an implicit pressure to say something wise that will explain this all away, that will somehow make it right and balance the scales in life.

  But let's be honest--sometimes, things in life just suck.

  There's no explaining it away.  There are times I would shake my fist at the heavens and cry out 'Why?' if I wasn't so burdened with despair.  There are times when things are so bleak for some people that trying to find the immediate silver lining is just trying to rush through the grief.  Sometimes, there is just pain and misery in life, and there's no good reason and no good explanation and no good.

  It's just evidence of the broken world, and it reminds us that it's not the way it's supposed to be.

  And while I believe that all of this strongly points to our need for a Redeemer, sometimes it just feels right to mourn the fact that while this is not the way it's supposed to be, it's the way it is--it's awful, and we don't know why or how or what comes next.  Let's just own the awful situation in front of us, acknowledge that there may well be nothing we can do about it, and sit in that place for a bit.

  Sometimes, I just have no words.  Not just because I haven't figured them out.  But because there simply are no words for some of life's deepest pains.  There are only tears and heartfelt sobs that break the hearts of family and friends, but immediately trying to fix the pain isn't the right next step.  Sometimes, as I explain to Caleb, things are just broken.

  I believe they'll get set right eventually, but that's for another day.  Right now, it's just broken.

  And that sucks.