Monday Mourning -- Rescued

First, let me apologize for the lack of updates over the past couple of weeks.  And I'm afraid it's not going to get any better for the next month or so.  Right now, we are finding ourselves in a headlong dash toward the end of the school year, with some sort of activity every evening.  For example, this week we have ... district tournament softball finals tonight (we won!), a 3-hour drive to Fort Smith on Tuesday night, all-day state track meet at Fort Smith on Wednesday followed by the 3-hour drive back home, academic awards banquet at OBU on Thursday night, and the first two rounds of regional softball tournament on Friday and Saturday.  And the two weeks after that look about the same.

Not that I'm complaining.  Despite the fact that I get to feeling a little ragged sometimes, I'm enjoying every minute of Bethany's senior year activities.  I know that as of May 24th, all of this crazy activity will be coming to an end, and once again, our lives will change, as she transitions to a new chapter in her life.

Anyway, I just wanted to share a brief thought today.  We had our fourth "While We're Waiting" support group meeting last week, and one of the moms said something that I had never really thought about before.  Her young daughter went to Heaven quite unexpectedly ten years ago when a virus attacked her heart.  She stated that she felt like God had "rescued" her daughter from the evil in this world when He took her to Heaven.

Hmmmmm ... that really made me think.  Rescued?  I hadn't ever thought in terms of Hannah being "rescued" when she went to Heaven.  But the more I thought about it, the more it resonated with me.  

There is so much heartache in this world.  All you have to do is turn on the TV or skim through the headlines on the Drudge Report to see how prevalent it is.  Bombings, earthquakes, cancer, addiction, moral bankruptcy, shootings, terrorism, war and rumors of war ... It's enough to really drag you down.  

Hannah was kind of an unusual teenager.  She was very politically aware and was always tuned in to world events. And she worried about what was going on in the world.  I had to frequently remind her that God was in control.  And then she'd be okay for awhile ... until the next big thing happened, and then she'd be worried again.  This was in direct contrast to her cancer diagnosis, which she never seemed to worry about ... or at least she didn't show it.  

Anyway, as I thought about her being "rescued" it made sense to me.  Obviously, she was rescued from the ravages of cancer, but she was also rescued from all the junk in this world.  It brings to mind Isaiah 57:1, which says, "The righteous perish, and no one takes it to heart; the devout are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil."

Rescued.  I kind of like that thought.  I'm looking forward to being rescued myself one day!