Resurrection

Last week a friend of mine died. He was out all Saturday night drinking with his friends and flipped his truck on a lonely stretch of highway Sunday morning. The truck ended up upside-down in a small creek alongside the road. He died before anybody found the crash. Cody was a student of mine and a wrestler for two years before he transferred to another school. He was a senior this year, and would have graduated last week. Cody was a bright kid, even though he didn't always show it. He was a talented wrestler and a very good athlete. He had an enormous amount of fight, he wrestled 119 pounds but I remember him taking on our heavyweight (without much success - like I said - he was bright, but didn't always show it). He was the kind of kid that could drive you crazy, but could always make you laugh. I hadn't seen him for a year or so, but when I found out about the crash I felt a void somewhere. I miss him.

Avery saw me looking at a news article about Cody's death. He asked me why the truck was wrecked. I wasn't sure how to respond but I told him that a wrestler of mine had died in that truck. There was a long silent pause and then Avery said, "That's sad. Why'd that happen?" There was a longer pause. I simply told him, "I don't know."

Why does this sort of thing happen? Most atheists will point to death and suffering in the world as one of the major justifications for there being no God. It sure makes it tough to believe in a God that would allow this sort of thing. But didn't Jesus, God's son, walk through this life just like we are? Death was common in Jesus' day. Herod had all Jewish boys under two years of age killed. Roman soldiers practiced genocide on the local populations. Medicine was still rudimentary, death in childbirth and young children was common. I'm pretty sure Jesus experienced the pain of losing a loved one. Beyond all of that, Jesus himself die one of the most horrific deaths known to man, proving that he understood.

He is the resurrection and the life.

I don't think we can ever fully understand why God allows this sort of thing - nor should we. I'm heading to the funeral tomorrow and I don't really know what to say to some of his good friends - students of mine. Maybe I don't need to say anything. I have been touched by the lyrics in this song since I bought the album a few months back. Although it doesn't give us any answers, I believe it might be the only answer.

(you can click on the title and open it up in Windows Media Player, then come back to this page to read the lyrics below)

Resurrection by Andy Gullahorn

My good friend Paul was lying in the back seat of a station wagon headed to New Mexico.

Somewhere in the middle of the night the driver fell asleep and hit the wall beside the road.

My friend went through the window like a bullet through the glass, dead before he ever hit the ground.

(Chorus) Oh I believe, though it's hard sometimes, you are the resurrection and the life.

Jodi is a queen reigning throne upon a couch but the last few years have numbered days.

Cause the virus in her body and the cancer in her brain are buyin' up the real estate.

And the medicine they give her trades nightmares for her dreams and memories too tragic to describe.

(Chorus) Oh I believe, though it's hard sometimes, you are the resurrection and the life.

I know the words of life to come are true, but sometimes they feel like salt upon the wound.

When I'm asking in these moments "Where are you?". . . where are you?

Sometimes it's like Lazareth you come to roll the stone away and watch him walk back out alive.

Sometimes it's like my good friend Paul, breathless on the interstate, mother weeping at his side.

Either way it's something I will never understand, but I trust enough to take you at your word.

So I believe, though it's hard sometimes, you are the resurrection and the life.