Suffering and Prosperity

My parents must have had a few awkward moments raising my twin brother and I. In fourth grade, both Connor and I ran for student council. I remember coming home and telling my parents I won. Connor didn't. As a parent, how do you celebrate with one kid and mourn with the other? Especially when they're identical twins!

We had band practice tonight. Afterwards, Mike always leads us in a time of prayer. We usually come with reports of bad news for which we need prayer or good news for which we want to thank God*. I am thankful that Mike makes a point of this every week, not only to pray, but also to connect and get
to know one another.

Tonight, one man shared about his mother who had been struck with severe depression to the point of hospitalization. At her age and condition, he was sure she wouldn't make it to October. But after experimental shock therapy treatments, his mother responded miraculously. She was released from the hospital and was up cooking Thanksgiving dinner last week!

Wow. Praise God.

"Oh yeah, they tried that shock therapy thing on my grandma a bunch of times," related Caleb, a junior in high school. He's our bouncy guitarist, always smiling. "Of course," he continued, "she's dead now."

There was a short awkward moment as we thought about what he had said. How do you respond? Laugh it off? Ignore it? It doesn't seem fair. It feels awkward sometimes, praying for something others don't have, or thanking God for something that was taken away from others. Because those people are God's people too. What about God? How does he feel? How does He respond? How can He celebrate the healed mother as well as comfort the family without their grandma? I know He does, He must, but I don't know how.

Because when I see suffering and prosperity happening at the same time, my words in prayer are taken away. I'm stumped. Your Kingdom come, Jesus.



*Praying in a group can be an interesting thing to observe. Western churches like to have a designated opener, closer, and then people take turns praying for certain requests in between. I was once at a Korean church. We shared our requests and then somebody invited us all into a time of prayer. Everyone became quiet and then bowed their heads. At once, the group erupted. Everybody was praying all at the same time, shouting their requests and praise to God simultaneously. I tried to pray at the same time, but it felt so ... foreign! After a couple of minutes the chatter died down and somebody said Amen. What an experience! We all laughed about it later.