of course it would happen this way

I was sorting new books for Jubilee's library when I came across a phrase in one of the book's blurbs. It was something like reconciling the dichotomy between the belief in a merciful God with no justice or a just God with no mercy. I find the concept of Hell very disturbing. We are supposed to believe that God loves his/her people so much and does not want them to go to Hell, where they would be in a lot of pain. However, this Hell is a place that God created, or, at the very least, allows to exist. A place specifically for the people who choose to be separate from God to go and suffer.
A loving God would create such a place?



An anecdote from one of the Partners: After a hurricane devastated parts of Nicaragua, an aid worker from the US was talking to a Nicaraguan woman, with the Partner translating. The Nicaraguan woman had spent five days trying to escape from the flooding. She and her family started by climbing on the table. As the water continued to rise, they climbed into the rafters. Then, onto the roof. Finally, she had to assist her older children into a tall tree and carried the youngest on her back into the branches. On the fifth day of trying to escape the rising water with little or no food, the rain stopped.
"Where was God in all this?" the American aid worker asked through the Partner. The woman didn't understand, and the Partner had to translate and re-word the question many times. Finally, the woman grasped the meaning of the question and said she could answer it.
"Praise be to God," she said, "He stopped the rain on the fifth day."

That, at least, I understand.

************************************

Ryan finally got his response from Northwestern. He was accepted into the School of Arts and Sciences, but not the Journalism School, which was his whole point in going. He can either choose a different major and go to Chicago, choose a different major and stay at UGA, or stay in the UGA journalism program. Many choices, but no answers.

I didn't imagine a situation in which we'd both be crushed at the response. God works in surprising ways, but it's difficult to convince Ryan of a divine plan when after all his hard work and doing everything right, things still did not work out for him. He has to decide by the 19th. I'm trying my hardest to convince him to make a decision that doesn't involve me as a factor and to not lose hope. If anyone should be able to understand his need to leave this place, it should be me. Besides, he's meant for so much more than this - destiny crackles around him like static electricity. If he can just keep from giving up I know he'll change the world in unimaginable ways.