Life and Hope

I attended the funeral of a friend's 4-year-old daughter today.

The little girl had fought a brain tumor for more than a year. When she was diagnosed, doctors gave her only a few months at the very best, even with treatment. However, God miraculously completely removed the tumor for a while, and she got to stay with her parents much longer than anyone expected. But the cancer came back and eventually claimed her young life earlier this week.

I wouldn't dare try to compare my feelings to the agony her parents are going through right now, but the death of this little girl has brought me to stop and ponder a while, as she and my son were almost the same age (he was born two weeks before she). They went to nursery and Sunday School together, and now my 4-year-old son is trying to understand why his little friend isn't around anymore.

As the preacher said at the service today, while death is never easy, it's an altogether different thing when a little one dies, when parents must bury their children instead of the other way around. As the pastor said, it is a stark reminder to us that something is wrong in this world.

Death was never meant to be a part of human existence. God in all His goodness never intended for humans to know sickness, suffering and death. He had a life of ease and joy planned for us.

It was the sin of our great...grandparents Adam and Eve, who thought their way was better than God's way, and chose to bring this curse upon our now fallen world.

But this little girl is now in heaven, and since her parents are Christians, in the midst of their sadness they do at least know they will one day see their daughter again.

It's so good to know that if we'll come to God, He gives us hope. Hope for this life and the next, even as we are surrounded by the disappointments of this temporal life.