Another way

Scene 1

My friend Scott was only 25 when he died. One day he just didn’t wake up. They said it was probably a brain aneurism. All I knew was that Scott was newly married and his wife was pregnant with their first child. I was shocked. I wanted an explanation. Not for the cause of death, but for the reason God would let him marry and start a family only to take him from them. I mean, if God is all-knowing and all-powerful, why not take Scott home just a year earlier before the marriage? Couldn’t God have saved Scott’s wife from this tragic loss and sorrow? Really, what possible good can come out of creating a widow and orphan! Wasn’t there an easier way?

Scene 2 - Almost ten years later:

“Wasn’t there an easier way?” I demanded of God. A broken heart and hope of finding some answers had brought me to this place of solitude. I stood on the jetty overlooking the peaceful harbor but my mind was more like the crashing sea behind me reeling from the pain of rejection, lost love and a wounded heart. God’s answer was immediate: “remember how it was with Scott”. Memories flooded back. Love, I’d learned from Scott’s widow, even if only enjoyed for a brief time, is worth the pain. “But,” I asked, “couldn’t you have taught me love without the loss, without the pain?” His reply rang out even before the words left my lips. “There wasn’t an easier way for me show the world my love.”

Scene 3 - Two thousand years ago:

“Isn’t there an easier way?” Jesus asked his Father. There in the garden, late at night, Jesus pleaded for his life. “Isn’t there another way for salvation? Do I really have to suffer and die?” God’s answer then, as it is now, is “no, there isn’t an easier way for love.” God chose to love humanity knowing in advance the rejection, pain, and sorrow it would cost him. Such is the Way of Love. There isn’t any other.

He, who is Love, knows pain and suffering. In the arms of Love we find comfort and peace. In the arms of a wounded Father we find the power to love.

-- A fellow traveler on the Highway