Why?

I just found out tonight that my friend Mark Palmer has cancer. For those of you that have been on our prayer list the past couple of years, you know that Mark lost his first wife to cancer a year and a half ago. He got married a couple of months ago and has been in pain ever since. He thought it was a bulging disk but it is something far more sinister.

All three George Irvin Rathmell’s the world has ever known took a week long trip from the town where both my Dad and I were born; Williamsport, PA and traveled up through NY to Canada seeing the sites and enjoying our time together. We actually stopped and had lunch in Watertown, NY where we ended up living 3 years later. My Dad would often tell the story later of how I, George the III was driving George Sr. (better known as Irvin) nuts with all my questions.

I still wonder why. Why do the little things happen? I don’t wonder so much about Tsunamis, Typhoons and Wars. There are too many variables there for me to even begin to get my mind around. I wonder more often about smaller, more personal issues. Why does Jack get sick? Why don’t some kids want to follow Jesus? Why does my friend have cancer? I know there is a purpose behind events I just want to know the why. Sometimes I think it might make life easier but mostly I am just curious.