I read somewhere that we should never be surprised when people die, but rather should be each day that we do not. Your friend is very wise and writes beautifully. He very obviously has a gift in his ability to touch and inspire others with words. I think most of the comments in your linked Facebook thread were intended to be a compliment or recognition of your friends ability to do so, but you're right - for any of us to say that we know for certain the reason why your friend was not taken home that day would be hubris. I think sometimes as Christians we like to fool ourselves into thinking we can understand the mind of God by isolating little cross sections of life such as this one; "You see? He's still here because God needs him for X-Y-Z". The truth is we don't know. Your friend's continued part of God's plan on earth might be to continue to touch people with words or to speak a single word to a single person the end effect of which may be generations away. Ever hear this song? (Don't worry, it's Country music not Christian music, so it's not all that "preachy"):
I think we're all selfish by nature when it comes to those we love. For Christians, that's kind of what grief is. Through wisdom, or friendship or love that person has givin us happiness and now that they're gone, even if we know they're in the arms of the Father, we remember that happiness. We miss it. It it selfish for a child who's Mother is diagnosed with a terminal illness to want their Mother's life extended or is it just self honesty about their need to be nurtured, protected and loved? If as a Christian, I believe with my whole heart that I will go to heaven the moment it happens, is it selfless or selfish for me to sacrifice my own life by pushing a child, in a wheelchair, holding a puppy out of the way of a runaway bus? Sounds like a pretty selfless thing to do but they could be in heaven right now instead of me. What if I knew that this child would have a child who would have a child who would one day save a life by giving a hamburger to a homeless guy who would pull his life together, get married and have a child who became the next Paul of Tarsus, what if it was the next Saul of Tarsus? That's a lot to process before the bus gets there. Everything is part of the math equation that's too big for me to understand.
It's why I'm so glad to be a Christian, because I don't have to. I don't have to even pretend to. And the more I mature as a Christian the more I understand that I'm not supposed to:
Proverbs 3 (ESV) said:
5Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
6in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
I don't have to do the math. I just have to trust that he can. The problem is that often we convince ourselves that we can do the math, but we're going to let God do it for us if and when we feel like it. We want credit for the brilliant, heroic or beautiful things we do, but blame God for not taking the reigns just before we wreck the rig, when we think that we're in control. It just doesn't work like that, because part of handing ourselves over to him is giving him control, not just in the times that we don't think we can handle things, but also in the time that we believe we can.
Just my $0.02
