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a good friend of mine is experiencing his own personal hell right now. his wife is in the hospital, after suffering from what they think was multiple strokes. a few of us went to visit the two of them at riverside hospital in columbus this afternoon, and it’s hard to describe the feelings that i experienced today. she can hear and understand whatever you say, but she can’t talk and her movement is very limited. needless to say, they’re both frustrated and scared.

i’ve had other friends experience similar situations with loved ones, and it doesn’t get any easier each time. i’m always left wondering the same questions like “why in the world would this happen to them of all people?” and “how can they live through this kind of pain and still have faith in god?” and i don’t know the answer. it’s not an easy, 3-step process. it’s not something that can be explained with an exegetical formula. it’s just something that sucks and is confusing and that we might never understand.

philosophically speaking, maybe the presence of darkness helps accentuate and compliment the light, and vice versa. that statement doesn’t deal with why bad things happen to good people, but at least it gives some sort of purpose to the darkness or bad that occurs around us. i tend to think that bad things just happen sometimes, whether in the midst of good or bad. but the presence of light makes the bad that happens seem that much worse, because the contrast is greater. the shadow exists in and of itself, but the fact that you can see it proves that there is light…’cause you can’t see a shadow in the dark.

what does your shadow experience tell you?

Posted on April 23rd, 2008 by adamdeweber
Filed under: art, beauty, bible, family, friends, music, relationships, religion, social issues, song of the week, wisdom