Tribute to Duane: God good.....

Did you ever work on a project late at night, right up until bedtime, and then continue working on it during your sleep? That’s what happened to me the other night…the night that I was up late posting my last entry. So now I have to begin this day’s post with the end of the last one.

"You made my whole being; you formed me in my mother’s body. I praise you because you made me in an amazing and wonderful way. What you have done is wonderful. I know this very well…..You saw my body as it was formed. All the days planned for me were written in your book before I was one day old." Psalm 139:13, 14, 16. (NCV)

Because that last verse says that all the days planned for us were written in God’s book, some people believe that whenever a person dies, they have completed all their days written by God and that they then died according to God’s plan. I don’t believe that. I believe that there are untimely deaths, and every day, people die without having lived out God’s plan for them. Duane's departure was untimely. I think if a life was lived out the way God planned it, it would be a good, long, full life, and when the person had accomplished all that God had written in His book, he or she would just go to sleep and wake up in Heaven. That’s how I think God would plan our deaths. That would be called dying from “natural causes.”

I’m not saying this to start a debate. I am simply sharing how I look at it. No one will ever convince me that God intends for people to die at the hands of others, as in murder or war (though in this world, war is sometimes necessary), or for them to take their own lives in suicide, or to die in plane crashes or auto accidents or from horrible diseases. All these things happen because we live in a fallen world and the being inside the serpent who deceived man and brought about this fall is still alive and well on planet earth, and people make bad choices and bad decisions. One of the things that "drives me nuts" is to have someone tell a small child when their Mommy or Daddy or sister or brother dies that it happened because God needed them in Heaven. What kind of Father would do that? If an earthly father wouldn’t take away a child’s parent, then most certainly our Heavenly Father wouldn’t! I think people say that because they don’t know what else to say, and they want to say something; they want to offer some sort of explanation. They might just better say that in life, bad things happen. But God. That’s one of my favorite phrases in the Bible. But God will take all things, including the bad things, and work them together for the good of those who love Him. He has done that for me in numerous ways.

In my first post, I mentioned that I originally thought of writing a book because my experience was so different from that of the author of a book I was reading. The author had also experienced the death of her son through an automobile accident, and she went through a period of being very angry at God. I never went through that. I never for one instant thought that God had anything at all to do with it. Jesus said that the devil is the one who comes to steal, kill and destroy, but that He, Jesus, came that we might have life, and abundant life, at that. I happen to believe Him. I don’t blame God, I blame the devil. And I intend to live my life in such a way that the devil will be sorry that he ever messed with me. How? By loving people and doing all I can to undo the damage that he has done in their lives. That’s called advancing the Kingdom of God and destroying the works of the devil. Just like Jesus. (If I knew how, I would *insert smiley face* here.)

I have a very simple theology that I call “Theology 101.” Actually, I’m pretty sure I heard one of my favorite author/speakers, Bill Johnson, say it. It goes like this: “God good, devil bad.” If it’s good, it’s from God. If it’s bad, it’s from the devil. Here are a couple of Duane’s drawings that I think illustrate my theology.

You’ll have to take my word for it that this one represents Father God (Papa) holding one of his children (no age limit on that) in His arms. I will tell you the story of how Duane came to draw that one another time.

"The Eternal God is your refuge, and underneath

are the everlasting arms." Deut. 33:27