CRISES

Job 27:9,10—Does God listen to his cry when distress comes upon him? Will he find delight in the Almighty? Will he call upon God at all times?

I will never forget December 12, 1985. On that day I received the news that 256 of our soldiers had just died in a horrible plane crash. Gone was my best friend Brian Haller and 25 of my soldiers, virtually all of them married men.

Kathleen and I will always remember Valentines Day 1991. We sat in the office of a neurologist and watched as he placed an MRI under the light to reveal the inoperable brain-stem tumor growing in Bryan, our three year old son.

Many people believe that their character is formed by tragedies or hardships. But this is not where character is shaped so much as revealed. Character is built slowly in the workshop of daily life. My moral ethical behavior will be stellar in the midst of calamity if it is strengthened in the normative process of living. Faith cannot rise to the challenge of trusting God through pain if it has always been a pain to trust. How can I love God when bad things happen if I don’t learn to love Him when nothing or good things are happening? Don’t be afraid of crises. Fear complacency.

Inspiration

Crises always reveal character, and we are all ignorant of our true character until it is revealed in us.—Oswald Chambers in So Send I You