Asking Why?

Impossible Questions, Part 6–Is God Out to Get us?

Impossible Questions, Part 6–Is God Out to Get us?

Is God Out to Get Us? Let’s take an inventory of all that’s been happening in my life for the last two months. First, came the pandemic. Then came the leaking garbage disposal that spewed water in our cabinet. That was followed by the broken refrigerator that spewed water on our floor and through our floor. That led to replacing half of the ceiling tiles downstairs. Then the camera that we use to record Sunday mornings (my guess is that you would think that might be an important element of life these days) decided to flip the image on the viewfinder, so everything was upside down (annoying, but not devastating). Then the camera decided to turn off randomly during recording (very annoying and a little devastating). Then, for the last two weeks, the camera has chosen not to turn on until it wants to, sometimes not for hours (both very

Impossible Questions, Part 5–How Could I Forget?

Impossible Questions, Part 5–How Could I Forget?

How Could I Forget? The only good thing to come out of having no live hockey to watch is that the Bruins have been showing reruns of the games from their epic Stanley Cup championship in 2011. Trust me, these games were spectacular. Boston beat Vancouver in a final winner-take-all game seven and became one of the most loved teams in Bruins history. How loved? One woman tweeted that her husband had stated that the night the B’s won was the happiest day of his life. She immediately prodded him with, “Not our wedding?” Now, the B’s winning it all wasn’t the happiest day of my life, but it was way up there! And you would think, as a result, that I would have almost perfect recollection of those games. But while I was watching the games again, it dawned on me, there are things I had definitely forgotten. For

Impossible Questions, Part 4–Job’s Job: The Limn

Impossible Questions, Part 4–Job’s Job: The Limn

Director’s Note: Last week, for your consideration into why God allows suffering (and as part of our on-going series of impossible questions), I submitted a rather quick overview of the book of Job. Since Job’s job is to make things clear, I thought it would help. Apparently, it didn’t. For most of us, even after my blog, Job remains rather enigmatic. So today, to help clear things up from last week, we offer Job’s Job: The Limn. It’s like a Broadway play without the broadways. So, sit back and read the script in different voices and be introduced to all sorts of wonderful characters (15 of them, by my count) and enjoy Job like never before. Welcome to the River’s Edge production of Job’s Job: The Limn! Please note: Job’s Job was first performed at the Edge on a Friday night not so long ago. Anything that doesn’t strike you

Impossible Questions, Part 3: Job’s Job

Impossible Questions, Part 3: Job’s Job

When I was a kid, I loved watching The Wild, Wild West. It was everything I wanted in a TV show. It was a horse-riding-western featuring a gadget-toting secret-agent man set in a mission-impossible, cliff-hanger motif with a cool theme song. When the network cancelled it, I was crushed. I even recorded the theme song from the very last episode ever (using my Craig recorder with the cool stick-shift control) so that I would never forget it. I was also proud of myself. While the rest of the world would soon forget the melody, I would be able to hum it on cue (and I heard the girls were really into guys who could hum TV theme songs! (Fun Takeaway #1 for those interested – they were lying!). And then exactly one week later (same bat time, same bat channel), there was The Wild, Wild West on my TV! I

Impossible Questions, Part 2

Impossible Questions, Part 2

There’s an old joke about a man who had terrible headaches, ringing ears and an inability to catch his breath. He finally decided he could not take it anymore, and so he decided to end it all. But he wanted to do it in style, and so he went to a tailor and ordered a brand new thousand-dollar suit. As the tailor was showing him various suits, he casually asked what shirt size the man wore so he could complete the ensemble. The man said he was a 16 neck, 34 sleeve and 43 chest. The tailor immediately grabbed his tape measure and started measuring. “I knew that was wrong,” he said. “Your neck is easily 171/2 inches. If you go around wearing a size 16 neck, you’re going to have terrible headaches, ringing ears and inability to catch your breath!” Here’s our problem: we don’t feel like we should

Impossible Questions, Part 1

Impossible Questions, Part 1

Impossible questions come and go, but asking God, “Why?” lasts forever. And to prove this, a few days ago a friend asked the “why” question: “If there is a God and he is good, why would he allow this pandemic?” Today, in this blog post, I want to answer that “why” question with a definitive answer that details what God is up to. I want to, I really do, but I can’t. No one can. It’s an impossible question. Now, that is not to say that we cannot say a few things that might be helpful to us as we wrestle with this question. I can’t answer “why,” but I hope I can give some guidance that will help us navigate these strange waters. First, remember while things today are bad, if the truth be told, things have always been bad. To gain some perspective and wisdom, let’s go back