On Miracles

Me circa 1985

Ah, my long neglected blog.  So much happens in life and I need to work harder to find time to write it down.  One thing that has happened lately is the resurrection of an event in my past.  On May 16, 1986 my elementary school was held hostage.  It's not something that I talk about much, but it was a defining moment in my life.  Now a movie has been made about the events of that day and an interesting discussion has arisen because of it.  The movie focuses on the miraculous; the fact that all 154 hostages survived.  While many see this as a great thing there have also been others who are seemingly offended by our survival.  Their comments are along the line that God is unfair when He saves the lives of some children and not the lives of others.  Some have even made the claim that we think we are better than others in similar circumstances because of our survival.  That is certainly not and has never been the case.  I have shed more tears than I care to count in guilt that I am alive and other children around the world have died.  The discussion around miracles and answers to prayer have led me to think deeply about the topic.  I have prayed and searched to understand it; for what they are worth, here are my thoughts.

People look at our story - disturbed couple with guns and a bomb take hostages, the bomb detonates but all innocents survive - and they think one of two things: that’s wonderful or that’s not fair.  The first reaction acknowledges the goodness of God and the second doubts God’s justice and judgement.  Why save these kids and not others?   It’s a fair question, but without a correct understanding of the attributes and character of God then it is a question without an answer.  If we say that God is fair only when every child in a dangerous situation is saved, then we eliminate God’s sacred gift to us: that of the right and ability to choose what we will do for good or evil.  You see, everyone who would want to commit a crime against a child would already know the outcome of that choice; the child they wanted to harm would be saved so the crime would not be committed even though the desire would still be there.  The outward man would conform, but the inward man would still be evil, and it is the inward man that God wants us to change.  If, in our hearts, we are like God then our outward actions will reflect God’s love and His good will to all mankind.  We would have no desire to harm a child or anyone else.  

God allows us to choose who we will be, and those choices affect others.  Sometimes those choices cause death, other times bodily injury, and still other times it is trauma to the mind and the emotional makeup of a child.  All these things are seen and remembered by an all wise and all-knowing and loving God, and they will be the terrible inheritance of those who perpetrated them.  There will be justice for every single terrified child; God Himself will see to it.  In the meantime, on this earth, children will live and children will die, but every life is a miracle and every death is a merely a temporary separation.  Every prayer offered by a frantic parent or loved one for the life of a child will ultimately be answered by God with a resounding “YES!” because Jesus Christ laid down His life and took it up again so that all will live.  Every child will come forth in the resurrection and be raised by those parents who so anxiously waited to see them again.  They will grow into adulthood safe from fear, trauma, and pain because of the greatness of our God and the loving sacrifice of our Savior.  I know all prayers are heard and they are answered in the time, will, and way of God.  If we trust Him, in the goodness, love, mercy, and justice that are inseparable parts of His divine nature, we will be able to wait patiently upon the Lord.