GodHas Forever To Pay Back Our Losses S everal years ago some good friends of mine, who live in Lincoln, Nebraska, came for a visit. They have a son named Josh. When I met Josh for the first time, he was one of the cutest, happiest kids I’d ever seen. He had bright blue eyes and a smile that would light up a room. He looked like he should have been on the cover of a children’s magazine. A few months later Josh became very ill with a temperature of 105-106 degrees. His parents took him to the emergency room. Whether the doctor was drunk, or on drugs, or just having a bad day, they don’t know. The doctor was very rude and told the parents to take Josh home, give him some aspirin, and if he wasn’t better to bring him back tomorrow. Rather than question the doctor, they did as they were told. As it turns out, Josh had spinal meningitis, and because the doctor didn’t catch it soon enough, Josh became 100% deaf.—My heart broke when I heard the news. I don’t cry easily, but I cried. I began telling God how unfair it was, that in this lifetime Josh will never hear his parents say “I love you.” He will never again hear the sounds of music or birds singing. I then told God, “Lord, even if you give Josh another whole life, how could it possibly pay for all the pain and loss he will know in this life?” Then, it was one of those rare times in my life; I had a very real sense of God actually speaking to me. A thought, not my own, clearly came to my mind. I felt God telling me, “Bart, I have all eternity to pay Josh back for his losses!” And it is true. God has forever to graciously pay back any hurts or losses we may experience in this life. If we are genuinely at peace with God when we die, knowing our sins are forgiven, it doesn’t really matter what cards life has dealt us here. In the end it will be OK. d
POSTSCRIPT: Josh can now hear. He was killed when his car went off over a cliff while driving in the mountains.
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