Dan's Thoughts

Trish #57 - February 10, 2006

Early this morning, the religion reporter at channel 2 called me.

"Dan, I know this is short notice but could I possibly come over to your house this morning to interview Trish? I want to run her story this Sunday night at 10:00 PM. "

"Sure, I said," without asking Trish. (Now guys, that's almost always a mistake. I should know better by now.)

Fortunately, she was OK with my decision.

So, we picked up around the house as fast as we could. Then we waited for the reporter to arrive.

He came, set up his camera and asked all the right questions. He seemed moved by her story. He listened as we told about how a little over a year and a half ago Trish could not speak, walk or think clearly. Now, she has just completed a 13-mile run in Phoenix to celebrate her life and health. We told him about Montelle, about Pat Gruits and her hospital in Haiti and about how Desert Mission Anglican Church in Phoenix had just sent our church a thousand dollars for the Haitian hospital, in honor of Montelle and Trish. The reporter then played with my granddaughter a bit. He took cute pictures of her, filmed Trish and I running down the sidewalk in front of our house, then packed up his gear and left.

Fridays are supposed to be my day off. It rarely works out that way but I do try to keep them as free as possible. So I had promised Moira, my granddaughter, that I would go with her and her dad to see Curious George today.

"Abba," she said, "you can buy popcorn!"

Trish and I needed to get to the theater to keep that important appointment. So we changed clothes as fast as we could and headed for the mall.

Our pace soon turned hectic though. While the reporter had been at our house, there had been a number of emergency calls. I had to answer them before going to the movie.

That’s why I asked Trish to drive to the theatre while I answered the calls. It turned out that one person was thinking about ending his life. Another was facing a family dispute that seemed to him unbearable and irresolvable. The third person was deeply disappointed because religious people sometimes act like fallen creatures. I didn't have any deep wisdom to share with any of them. I just tried to just find the presence of God as we talked. Then, together, we tried to give to God the issues that were too heavy for us to bear. As I talked, Trish drove. Driving is not a world-shaking activity perhaps. But it can be a real joy if you were unable to walk just a few months before. Besides, we were doing God's work together. That possibility seemed very remote just a few months a go.

Anyway, when we finally got to the theatre, our granddaughter was really happy. (I hope it wasn't just about the popcorn!) We sat down with her and watched a mischievous monkey create unbelievable chaos and bedlam.

As I watched Curious George, I tried not to think about the question Jamey Tucker, the reporter, had asked me that morning. “Why,” he had asked, “do some people pray hard and their loved ones make such a remarkable recovery while others pray just as hard and their loved ones do not recover?” It was a good question but I could put it out of my mind as I watched Curious George.

Now, alone at the computer, I have to think about his question.

Tomorrow we will bury Tim Webb. He had a stroke, just like Trish. I wanted to walk with Tim's family through his rehabilitation. I wanted to take Trish to the hospital so her story could encourage him and his family to do the hard work necessary to pull him back from death's door. But Tim went on to Heaven. He was a righteous man. He served God faithfully. He was a good father, husband and son. Trish was not a better person than Tim. I am certainly not a better person than Virginia, Jessica or Bonnie. So what do I say to them tomorrow, knowing that I watched Curious George and laughed with my granddaughter and wife while they were grieving such loss?

In the end though, we simply don't know the answer to the reporter's question. Faith is not a certainty about a particular outcome. It is a steadfast trust in God in the presence of great mystery. It is perseverance through disappointment and sorrow. For we live our life with the constant awareness that it is brief and uncertain. We can’t allow that knowledge to crush us. We must live as long as we live. As Christians, we must come to a place of deep surrender to the graciousness and goodness of God. As best we can, we must leave big questions like that to Him.

On channel 2, this Sunday night at 10:00, for two and a half minutes, Jamey Tucker will try to tell Trish's story. He will post our church website for those who want more information. Some people watching him will go read through the emails on our website. Perhaps they will catch a glimpse of wonder, thinking about how imperfect people sometimes get overwhelmed but how God can come down to walk with them through the fire. And perhaps, some of them will turn their eyes away from the toys of this world that keep capturing our attention and toward the really important things -- like watching Curious George with a three year old whose eyes are still full of wonder because monkeys are funny and because people are too.

Life can be uncertain and mysterious. It is often full of pain and disappointment. But all the same it is wonderful and beautiful.

How do you capture that in 2 1/2 minutes?

Dan