Why me Lord?

A Samoan soldier died here this past Sunday. He was at a lake having picnic with his family. The irony of his death is that he had just returned from a fifteen month tour in Afghanistan and then dies on a peaceful lake. His wife said that she had just "let down her guard." She was constantly worried for him day and night and had prayed for his safety day and night when he was deployed. But when he got back, she thought her nightmare of constant worry was over.

By all accounts he was a strong swimmer. His brother said he was a fisherman back home and would dive under water for long amounts of time. They were baffled at how he could drown in eleven feet of water in a supposedly calm body of water with no currents. The only conclusion that I came to was that it was his time. He survived fifteen months in one of the most dangerous places on earth, and yet died at one of the most peaceful, a lakeside. We often don't understand what God's plans are for us. We often ask why this happens or that happens. We look at things and say how unfair life can be. Why would he bring a soldier through his deployment and then let him die as his kids were watching from the shore as he struggled for life.

But that's just life I guess. If life was always fair, I don't know if I want to live in that world. A fair world is a world without grace. So often, if it weren't for the grace of God, I don't know where my life would be now. Sometimes we may never know why things happen the way they do. But the only sure thing in life is that God said His grace is sufficient for me. That He will never put me through an ordeal that I cannot handle. And when the pain becomes too much, that's when He is carrying me, like the poem footprints in the sand. So I once again come to you to ask that you lift up this soldiers' family in your prayers. May God's grace be upon them in their time of need.