Maybe it was because this morning was my first morning back doing the whole shebang -- preaching and worship leadership and adult class -- that I was thinking, while I was shaving, about the first few times I shaved myself in the hospital. It was in the Progressive Ventilator Care Unit, and I had so little strength in my hands, and I had to be so careful about staying away from the tracheostomy, that the whole effort exhausted me. Then, this morning, as I jumped in and out of the shower, I remembered how bathing and dressing took an hour when I was first home from the hospital. I had to disconnect the 24/7 oxygen to bathe. Afterwards, I was as worn out as if I'd been in an endurance workout, and had to take a nap!

Thank God for strength, and for healing.

I say that because all healing comes from God.

I say that even though (as my cousin Michael reminds me, mourning his wife, Nancy) not everyone does heal physically, even when many people are praying for that healing. This places us deep in mystery.

It is God's will that every sick person will strengthen and heal. It is God's will that life be full and abundant. It cannot be God's will that someone die tragically.

So, why does that happen? Sometimes we can point to reasons: consequences that follow self-destructive actions. But sometimes there is simply no reason, no answer. All I can affirm, deep in this mystery, is that God is with the person who is dying. God is suffering in the dying. That is what the incarnation means: God in human flesh, "Emmanuel -- which means, 'God with us.'"