1 Corinthians 15:55
“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?  Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

Death has taken us by surprise this last year, beginning last May when our tiny Georgia Rae only lived a few short hours because she was born too soon.  

Then, back in December, our niece was taken suddenly as she walked a lonely road and was hit by a car. 

 This May, our son-in-law's beautiful, bubbly mother succumbed to her illness, and though she endured it over two years, I thought she'd beat it. So it was surprising when the call came.  

My own cousin died in May as well, and was followed too soon by her husband. 

On the Fourth of July, a family friend was walking her grandson to the fireworks show, and was struck by a drunk driver who fled the scene. So shocking and unnecessary. 

We've been praying for the healing of a young grandmother whose daughter is a close friend. She died yesterday of cancer.

These are all people we know personally, so I shouldn't even mention the 777 that crash-landed in SFO yesterday, killing two,  but it too, was shocking.

We were watching Sleepless in Seattle for the who-knows-how-many-time last night.  At the scene of Tom Hanks wife's funeral, he tells his little boy something like this, "Mommy got sick and had to go away. If we try to figure out why, we'll just go crazy."  

So, we trust that even though we do not get it at all, it makes us angry, and we wish it didn't happen, we have to give up thinking about it and trying to figure it out. Then, sort of like children who watch their dad labor over "the dreaded bills," many past due,  we let God worry about it and just support Him by loving Him.