A question of faith

[kparker15]

I wanted to share this story with you all. Last week, an 18 year old high school senior was killed when his vehicle struck a tree. What made the accident most disturbing was he hed graduated high school that evening. In our community, there is an activity called "project graduation" in which the graduating class stays overnight at the high school and participates in fun activities. Everyone attends, even some of the parents. It seems that on his way home from "project graduation", he apparently fell asleep and struck the tree. He was killed on impact even though he was wearing his seatbelt. The accident occured around 200 yards from my home. His parents were the second ones on the scene. The timing of this tradgedy rocked our small community.

Our community is in the bible belt and things like this tend to question ones' faith. Why did this happen? Why did it happen at this time? Why would god allow this? These were questions that many, including myself were asking. Over 5,000 people were at his funeral as he was a well-known and well-liked young man. One of the most ironic things was a slide show with photos of him during his life that played during visitation and the funeral. Some of the photos were taken during project graduation, just hours before his death.

This morning, one week after he was killed, lightning struck the tree at the base and the tree fell. The family was obviously devastated and could not decide on what to do with the tree. There were scores of flowers, ect. around the tree. Someone somewhere made the decision for them. I am a christian and this reinforces my beliefs. Please do not make this thread into a religious debate, I just wanted to share this story.

[albionmoonlight]

I am sorry for your community's loss.

[Fritz]

Please do not make this thread into a religious debate, I just wanted to share this story.

in case people don;t read all the way down

[sachmo71]

My prayers go out to his family.

[Cuckoo]

Thank you for sharing the story. My thoughts and prayers are with his family as well.

[Flasch186]

I Think that they should take the tree and make something out of it....

a guy here in Jacksonville, took a tree that was knocked down and used it as a piller in his home.....maybe he'll have termites someday but regardless it was meaningful to him.

Perhaps there is something that they can use the tree for, to move forward...just an idea.

[Franklinnoble]

Would now not be an appropriate time to suggest they make a baseball bat out of the tree?



Sorry... I couldn't resist.

A similar tragedy struck my community about six months ago when a six-year old girl was killed in a car accident while her older sister's best friend was driving. I expected everyone involved to be devastated, but at the memorial service, there were pink balloons everyplace, and most everyone, while upset at the loss, spent the time expressing how grateful they were to have this little girl in their lives while they did, and were comforted with the knowledge that she knew Jesus, and that it was only a matter of time before they would get to see her again.

[The Afoci]

The lighting striking the tree was probably the kid's revenge to it. My mom firmly believes that Steve Bartman or whatever his name is will be dead within a year if my recently passed away Grandmother can figure out how to do that. We actually were worried about her after that happened that she might have a heart attack or something. She was a huge Cubs fan.

Sorry to hear about this.

[Franklinnoble]

Originally Posted by The Afoci

The lighting striking the tree was probably the kid's revenge to it. My mom firmly believes that Steve Bartman or whatever his name is will be dead within a year if my recently passed away Grandmother can figure out how to do that. We actually were worried about her after that happened that she might have a heart attack or something. She was a huge Cubs fan.

Can you ask her to do something about Bud Selig while she's at it?

[bamcgee]

As tragic as the tale is, God allows much worse. The cornerstone of faith is accepting that the reason behind the event is beyond our comprehension, however unsatisfying or insensitive that may sound. If we had perfect knowledge, then why would we need faith?

I am sorry for your loss.