Inexplicable Tragedies.
Often times, people face tragedies and calamities. Some result to infirmity or death of person, closed relatives and loved ones. When such happens, we wonder: why me? Why now? How can? And end up in disbelief. The more we search for answers the more they find nothing adequate; find no explanation or justification for tragedies. They just happen without notice or excuse. It could be caused by natural disaster, just like the hurricanes in Florida or attributed to the political judgment, like the invasion of Iraq. Could America so soon forget 9/11 when Al-queda terrorist group crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Centers, at New York? This singled genocide resulted to the death of thousands of innocent people who were about their civic duties, leaving families and loved ones in grieve, agony and great loss. How dare you explain that some terrorist group bombed a train station and consequently held school pupils hostage in Russia? These are all tragedies and fast becoming common place in our world.
In 1989 during a world cup qualifier in Lagos-Nigeria, an international player- Sam Okparaji, who for the love of his country responded to call for duty to participate in the soccer tournament, did not make it through the match. He collapsed before a jammed- packed stadium of spectators and died in the field of play, without a farewell. It was an “ugly” and “sad” day for Nigeria. The news of his death aroused sorrows, tears and snapping of fingers with a shout, “God forbid” or “it can’t be true.” Again early last year, Marc Vivien Foe collapsed and died while playing for his country, Cameroon during the Confederation Cup Tournament in France. On August 30, 2004 our own 15 years old, a rare lad and jewel, Master Ivan Chinedum Okafor collapsed and died while in football practice at Alief Taylor High school in Houston without a word to his father -James, Augustina (mother), Francisca (sister) and a host of other relatives and loved ones. A week later or so, the sad news of another young Cheer dancer who collapsed and died at KatyHigh school invaded the City of Houston, like wild fire. The list is unending.
Again, these incidents provoked thoughts: why me? Why now? How can? In attempt to explain the inexplicable, some may superstitiously blame these odds on demonic forces, while others attribute them to practicing under high intensity of the sun. Some may wonder whether they were keeping dates with destiny. A group of African parents decried “football is a hard game.” An anguished mother wept, “Good things do not last”. While another young school mate concluded “life is just unfair.” When tragedy happens, some try to consult the gods or Seers for clues but finds no fitting answer. There are accidents and just happen. For an African, living in a man’s world, the demise of the only male child could be devastating. Such death may dash hope of heir apparent in the family and the hope of ‘social security’ – old age care of parent. In motherland, our ‘SS’ are our children. We invest at best on them so that they would not only be responsible father, but also a caring son and community partner. Yet that’s not the end of life.
My old man often said “every death has a witness.” Even when the cause of the death was unknown while one lives; an autopsy report usually finds causes at death. If one were to see God face to face, would one not ask: Father, why allowed such deaths? What would the parents of such tragedies do? Regret for allowing their children participate in the sports they loved? Some parents may’ve been tempted to withdraw their children from such sports. But before you do that, how do you explain the death in hurricanes or those who died in active service defending their nations. What do you say when a stray bullet hit and kill an innocent person residing on his patio? How would you explain that a drunk driver ran into another diligent road user and all the people in the car died on the spot? Or how could thunder-lightening instantly strike people dead? The answer to all of these questions and more is there is no meaningful answer or perhaps there are beyond our comprehension. Life is a risk and struggle for survival.
The irony of faith is that tragedies do happen from time to time. Even at biblical times, the tower of Babel collapsed; God destroyed the whole world by rain. The killing of Israeli male children ordered by King Pharaoh and the beheading of John the Baptist by King Herod. The story of Job, how his house collapsed and all of his children perished. There-after poverty reduced a rich guy to a good-for-nothing man whose friends made fun of, but at last God vindicated him.
Writing on Our Daily Bread of Wednesday, September 8 2004, D. De Haan referred to two tragedies that occurred in Jesus’ day, recorded in Luke 13:1-5. One, Pilate had killed some Galileans and mixed their blood with their sacrifices (vs.1). The other was about 18 Israelites who died when a tower fell on them (vs.4). Jesus posed the question “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners? Jesus attempts to erase the notion that those who died in tragedies were guilty of horrendous sin.
However, tragedies like these remind us of some invaluable truths that we may have grown complacent of or too comfortable with and loss sense of prospective; that in the midst of life, there’s death. ‘Death is a fearful visitor, snatching away people who are precious to us and leaving us behind to mourn, grieve and wonder. It blocks the light that before had shinned so freely and easily on our lives. Whether we’re facing the prospect of dying or dealing with the death of a loved one, death can be devastating. It can sap our energy, change our plans, overwhelm our soul, alter our outlook, test our faith, steal our joy and challenge our presumptions about life’s purpose.’ Death occurs in the old as well as young and even babies. ‘Death has no regards for our wants. There are gabs, rubs and sore spots; there are unexpected twists and sudden turns. We do not get all we want.’ Again, life is impermanent and at times not fair. It can be “a riddle wrapped inside a puzzle; it can be random and haphazard” but do we allow our troubles dribble away the rest of pleasant part of life? God uses the waves of our trails to draw us closer to Him.
After pondering on the pains and aftermath of tragedies, I choose to hold tight the Christian prospective of life. Christians are here on call to duty. We stand sentinel like good soldiers in our duty post. We listen to the last command and obey without questions. History reveals that most of our church founding parents believed and obeyed without knowing their outcome. They accepted every challenge as a way of perfecting them for final glory. The same with these folks who met their untimely death responding to call; obeyed and reported to duty. The dread hands of death did not spare them. They left untimely, unexpectedly and inexplicably. They were braved, not fearing endless day. When tragedy occurs, it’s easy to blame God and listen to the devil suggest putting faith in alternative gods. But King David said this “As per God, His ways are perfect and He’s flawless [Psalms 18:30]. Life tragedies call for self- examination and preparation for endless glory; so get prepared. For Jesus is not only preparing a place for us, but also preparing us for that place. The victim of Good Friday becomes the victor of Easter Sunday.
When tragedy strikes, we feel like walking through the deep valley, swallowed up by the shadow and come face to face with fear. The frantic emptiness of our loss threatens the comfort that previously originated from our trust on God and we grow afraid; afraid of future and afraid to enjoy life again. Yet in that valley, under that shadow we can say to the Lord, “nothing shall separate us from your love.” A British preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon in a sermon titled “Why they leave us.” said Jesus prayer in John 17:24 is answered every time a Christian dies. The person leaves his body and enters the presence of his Savior, where he beholds His glory. A Christian hymn writer, Richard Baxter [1615-91] wrote: “Lord it belongs not to my care whether I die or live; to live and serve thee is my share and this thy grace must give. If life be long, I will be glad that I may long obey; if short, yet why should I be sad? To welcome endless day.”
When inexplicable tragedy occurs, let’s be content to leave the “why” questions unanswered. We should be reassured of God’s love and presence in our predicaments. “That neither death nor life, neither angels nor other heavenly rulers or powers, neither the present nor the future , neither the world above nor world below – nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from God’s love.”[Romans 8: 38-39]. Whatever happens to us is for a lesson and purpose. After all, we live life forward and learn from it backward. We may not know what the future holds but if we knows who holds the future we feel confident to move on with life. It was for an experience like this that the biblical Job said, “For I know my Redeemer lives.” And today many Christians chant this song without thought on the meaning. No matter what befell Job, nothing could change that assurance. So let us therefore sing with a hymn writer that: Jesus, still lead on, till our rest be won. And, although the way be cheerless, we will follow, calm and fearless. Guide us by thy hand, to our Fatherland. When we seek relief, from a long-felt grief. When oppressed by new temptation, Lord, increase and perfect patience. Show us that bright shore, where we weep no more. As we pass through the sunset valley of life, let this also be our hope.
We should not allow any turn in life’s event to turn us into empty and pointless living. For neither temptations that come to us, nor situations we face are new; others had at one time or the other experienced similar or even worse events. Come to think of it, the life we live is not our own. We live a depended life on our Creator. He’s our compass and will direct us well. We are called to trust Him in all things, at all times. Instead of groping in meaningless, we should ask for God’s mercy: to teach us the measure of our days, how short and frail there are. The preciousness of life demands that we number our days. Even though life is short, if we apply wisdom, we can put a lot of living with it [Psalm 39:4-7; 90:12]. To ‘number our days’ is to highly value and wisely use the time God has allotted us. Even when you choose to live in denial, this is our fate.
Published by Evangelist Ogbonnaya, Godswill of Weefreeministries.org in African News Digest of August 13 & 27, 2004; page 7.