Where is God?

This week has been active.  Boston Marathon bombing.  West, Texas fertilizer plant explosion.  Tornadoes.  Ricen poison in the mail.  Dr. Gosnell infanticide trial.  The questions comes if God is real, how do these things happen?

There are a few things to be said about this, but the bottom line comes down to choice.  When God created everything, he gave Adam and Eve choice, by planting a "tree of knowledge" in the garden.  He warned them that when they ate of it, death and evil would enter the world.  It's the true story of Pandora's box.  They rebelled against God, and there were consequences for their actions.  Death was unleashed.  Evil abounded.  The perfection of creation was marred (which is why tornadoes and out of control fires are a problem).

Since then, God continued to give people choice.  Adam and Eve's son Cain used choice to murder his older brother, just as Dr. Gosnell murdered 40+ infants and madmen created bombs and poison.  We were given choice, and some choose to abuse this precious gift to destroy another gift, life.  Others bully.  Or lie.  Or rape.  Or steal from the poor.  Or any other number of bad things happen because people make bad choices.

So why did God allow choice?  A girl at my church has a Winnie the Pooh doll.  She loves that doll and carries it around.  But does the doll love her?  Of course not.  Why not?  Because it can't.  It has no choice.  God gave us choice because he didn't want dolls.  He wanted us to choose to love.  I choose love. 

I choose to be with the soldier named Tyler who comforted the hysterical woman.  I choose to be with the soldiers, officers, and civilians that ran toward the explosion to try to help people.  I choose to be with the fire-fighters who tried to help in West, Texas.  I choose to be with the tornado victims.  I choose to love.

How about you?