Mark's Blog

Dear Gkids,

Some really sad things happened this week that I’m sure you heard about. Tornadoes went through Texas and Oklahoma and tore up trees and blew down people’s homes. Cars and trucks were picked up and thrown on top of each other.

The part of the story that I want to write to you about is about the children, especially the school children in Oklahoma, who were hurt—some died—by the tornado. I want to write to you about the children because I thought these sad and bad things might make you afraid, and they might make you have some questions about God.

First, I want you to know that it is OK to ask questions about God. All the grown-ups who really love God ask these same questions—yes, even your Moms and Dads. God is so much bigger than us that we have a hard time even thinking about how big and powerful and good He is.

 Most of our questions come when we make the mistake of thinking that God is just like us. Even though He made us to be a little bit like him, it’s like a tiny little kitty cat thinking that it is the same thing as the biggest lion in Africa! They are in the same family and a little alike—but a whole lot different.

BUT here’s just one of the great things about God: even though He is so much bigger and so much different, He loves every single person and knows each one of us—including you!  AND He wants us to know Him and love Him too.  That’s why it is OK to ask questions when things happen in His world that we don’t understand.

Some people quit believing that God is real because they don’t understand everything about Him or the reasons He does things. That’s a big mistake that I hope you will never make.

If I were you, my first question to God would be: why did you make tornadoes that tear things up and that hurt and kill people?

You may think that Grandad is almost as old as God, but the truth is that I am still asking God questions too. But I’ve listened to God and tried to learn about Him my whole life, so what I’m telling you is the answer that I believe is true.  Here’s what I think God would say to you:

Boys and girls—My sweet children—when I made the whole world back at the beginning, I didn’t make anything that was bad, nothing at all that would make people afraid or hurt them so badly they would die.  The wind blew just enough, no floods, and no earthquakes that shook houses down. Everything worked just perfectly.

Then the people I made tried to take over being God! They thought they could be as Good and as Wise and as Powerful as I AM, but they couldn’t. 

By trying to be like God, they broke the World!  Now the ground shook too much, the rains caused floods, and the wind blew too hard.  Now people got hurt and sick and died because every time somebody tried to be God, they would break it even more!

They even started lying and stealing and killing each other, it got so bad!  You would think it couldn’t get any worse, but then my people did the very worst thing!  They began to worship trees and rocks and animals and to call them “God”. They would sing songs to the sun and dance at night to worship the moon.  They were so messed up that they kept breaking the World—and breaking themselves—and so they kept dying. They forgot about Me!

There were always good people who tried to live without breaking the world, like Noah and Abraham and Samuel and David, but even they could not fix the whole world.

I knew what had to be done to fix things! Only My Son Jesus could do it because he is just exactly like me! He would have to take the broken world and start making it new all over again!

He started with the very worst broken thing: I had made people to live with me forever, but because they were broken, they died. Even children who had done nothing to break the world died because the whole world was broken around them and the wind blew too hard and the rain caused floods and the ground shook too much! It broke my heart!

Jesus started fixing things by creating New Life! To do this, he had to let himself die, then while he was dead, he fought Death and when Death was defeated, He was ALIVE again! Of course!

So, you remember the story, He came out of the grave and told his friends to start telling people that if they would let Him, he would keep them too from staying dead when their broken bodies died. He would help them be alive forever in a new heaven and new earth where nothing is broken!

So, I’ve started My new creation now—but I have not completely fixed everything that is broken—yet!  I want to give everyone enough time to trust Me and to believe that We want to save them from being broken. If I fixed everything right now, well, some people just need more time to be convinced of my Goodness—and I don’t want anyone to stay broken forever!

That’s the answer to your question. The world is mostly still broken. That’s why you have tornadoes and fires and earthquakes and why people—even children—die. And that’s why it is still hard to understand. It makes me sad!

But don’t worry about the children! Did you know they have angels that stay close to Me and watch over them. The angels can’t keep them from dying in the broken world, but they can bring them to me and I give them New Life just as Jesus got, so they will never die again.  They are with me now where there is no brokenness—none at all!

Don’t be afraid. Jesus is coming again soon, and all the broken world will disappear. Trust me!

I think that’s what God would say to you. He really loves you, and He is so glad that you love Him.

And Mimi and I love you too!