Trouble on the Horizon

“Your son is missing. He didn’t report to duty this morning,” the Navy officer informed us. Our world, seemingly secure just moments before, now rocked with tremors originating on the other side of the world.

Our 20-year-old son had arrived in Guam just a week earlier. Now he’s missing? None of it made sense. It was 8 pm Monday evening, December 20, 2010, and we were in shock.

“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me,” counselled Jesus in John 14:1. He had just jolted His disciples by serving them as a lowly servant (washing their feet), told them that one of them would betray Him, and revealed that Peter would deny Him three times. The disciples’ world was crumbling and Jesus saw their fear.

“Let not your heart be troubled.” But we love security, predictability, control. And when these things are jerked out from underneath us by a phone call, the results of a medical test, an unwelcome visit to the boss’ office, or a difficult confession by a family member, we are troubled. We are agitated to the core.

“Let not your heart be troubled.” At those difficult times when our emotions demand the rule, Jesus reminds us of our faith (in God and in Him). He reminds us that He is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6).

Our son was found, but it was too late. He had taken his life. At his funeral, we showed a YouTube video with the song by Don Moen, “God Will Make a Way.”

Jesus is that way through dark, troubled times. He generously offers us His truth and life to sustain us. I don’t believe I would have survived this past six years without tenaciously clinging to the truth, to Jesus. Won’t you cling to Him today?