Answer – because I have to be

Because I have to be.

Sounds like the answer to a question.  But what was the question?  The question was -

Why?

OK - but that begs the question -

why what?

To which the answer is -

I'll be OK.

 

Confused?

Me too - for a while.
Maybe for too long.

And now, here I am a year and a half later thinking - I really need to remember this.

---

Yeah - I originally wrote this back in April of 2015.
In February of this year - 2016 - one of our dogs was diagnosed with cancer.
He almost made it to remission.  Almost.
It was hard.  Being so close.  Then being on a trial drug that looked so promising.
And then the fight was over.
And I'm going through all this - again.

The updates that I make to the original will be in text like this.

---

It just came to me this morning - 
And again after Dewey succumbed to lymphoma.
And I can't help but wonder - how many more times?

I'll be OK - because I have to be.

It's not like God drops a whole bunch of people here on this earth just for the heck of it.  No matter how much some of us would like to believe that He doesn't even really exist and that we are just here by chance with no objective other than to exist and have fun, the theories that these folks hang on to just don't hold water if they're examined closely at all.  I've said before -

I think it takes more faith to believe that God doesn't exist that it takes to believe that He does.  The odds of all this being random chance are beyond astronomical - and no one would bet their life on anything with that kind of odds.

So - if I'm here because God put me here for a reason - as He said He did for all of us -

^{Jer 29:11} For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

then I'm left with three options.

1. do everything I can to keep His plan from coming true
2. pretend He doesn't exist and that there is no plan - which will have the same outcome as option #1
3. do everything I can to follow His plan for me - knowing that I can't exactly follow it, but can at least come as close as possible.

Assuming I choose option 3 - which I have - then it stands to reason that I have to be OK.  Everything that's getting me down - and keeping me down way too much - has to be temporary.  And it's only as bad as I allow it to be - which has been pretty bad.  And - it's only for as long and as often as I allow it to be.

I was having lunch with a couple friends from church the other day, and one of them said something about how, as someone who teaches about the Bible, there are things that we should know.  My response - what I know in my head isn't always what I know in my heart.  We're all like that at times.  

We also - being human - don't have perfect memories or perfect responses when stuff happens.  We're not alone that way -

first, we read ...

Jesus Predicts Peter’s Denial

26:31-35 pp — Mk 14:27-31; Lk 22:31-34

^{Mt 26:31} Then Jesus told them, “This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written:
“ ‘I will strike the shepherd,
and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ ³² But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.”
^{Mt 26:33} Peter replied, “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.”
^{Mt 26:34} “I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.”
^{Mt 26:35} But Peter declared, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” And all the other disciples said the same.

and then ...

Peter Disowns Jesus

26:69-75 pp — Mk 14:66-72; Lk 22:55-62; Jn 18:16-18, 25-27