“While he was still speaking, another also came and said [to Job], ‘Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, and behold, a great wind came from across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people and they died, and I alone have escaped to tell you.'” (Job 1:18-19)
MISTAKEN IDENTITY
If there ever was a more tragic case of mistaken identity, I’ve never run across it.
Just when you think you’ve heard it all, the story comes out of the family whose daughter survived a car accident (or so they thought) where four others were killed.
Some five weeks after the crash, the family of Laura VanRyn discovered it really wasn’t her in a coma that they’d been caring for, but one of her friends.
It seems that Whitney Cerak was the one who actually lived while Laura had died.
How could such a mistake be made?
Well, first off, the two girls had an astonishingly similar appearance.
And then secondly, the authorities involved determined that, since the family had made a positive identification on the living girl, no DNA tests needed to be made.
Oops!
And can you just imagine the feelings of the VanRyn family while at the same time those of the Cerak’s?
You talk about a roller coaster of emotions!
AWFUL SURPRISES
It goes without saying that life is full of surprises both awful and joyous.
So how do we cope when it’s the former that strikes?
The Old Testament story of Job offers us insight. (Job 1:1-22)
Job had some pretty awful things happen to him, you’ll remember.
The Sabeans attacked and stole his donkeys and oxen and killed his servants.
Then, fire fell from the sky and burned up Job’s sheep and some more of his servants.
Next, the Chaldeans raided and stole his camels and slew even more of his servants.
And if that wasn’t bad enough, worst of all, a windstorm arose and struck the house Job’s seven sons and three daughters were in causing it to collapse.
They all died.
(And you thought you were having a bad day.)
HOW TO COPE
But what was Job’s response to all this?
It was both human and Christian.
He tore his robe and shaved his head which represented tremendous grief and heartache.
(It’s a misnomer to think that somehow followers of Jesus ought not feel hurt when something bad happens. It’s only human.)
And then secondly, Job worshiped.
This is how we cope when tragedy strikes.
We don’t deny that we’re hurting.
But then also, along with that, we turn our attention to the Lord and trust Him with what’s happened.
He’s a good God.
He never makes a mistake.
Even when life seems to suggest otherwise, it’s still true.
Are yo going through something today?
God’s got the whole world in His hands.
But more than that.
He’s got you and your life there, too.
(Head On Car Collision picture file above is under the GNU Free Documentation License: click here / CC BY 3.0.)
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