Over the holidays, I was forced to think about death and sorrow as you were. We lost two dear church members, Lee Snyder and Cassie Glover. A fellow pastor, Ed Beddingfield, Pastor of Memorial Baptist Church in Buies Creek, lost his wife in a house fire on Christmas Eve. His daughter Sharron, severely burned will spend extended time in the burn center at UNC. Ed and daughter Megan remain behind to deal with their tragic loss.
In November we also watched the horrible news on TV of 26 people cut down in a Texas Church while engaged in worship. Horrific fires ravaged thousands of homes and left many dead in California. And there are other stories of sorrow, loss and grief too numerous to mention.
As a result of these loses near and far and the pain that has touched us all, I have had a compelling sense of direction from God to turn to the book of Job, the story of a man who lost everything, for our next Bible Study Series. My thoughts on pain, suffering, and grief have also led me to pull a classic book from my shelves by G. Campbell Morgan entitled “The Answers of Jesus to Job”.
Over the next few months, we will probe into Job’s haunting questions in regards to his personal loses and pain with the realization that only in Jesus do we have a response.
I hope that you will join us each Wednesday night as we explore this fascinating subject. Perhaps one of your New Year Resolutions would be to get involved in our Wed. night Bible Study. In Psalm 42:1 David said, “As a deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.” How about you?
In His Love, Charles
