Ask the Hard Question

“But He knows the way I take; When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” Job 23:10

My father was a humble, quiet man, strong and principled. He was a good father who deeply loved my mother and their four children. He was not an outwardly religious man. He did what was expected of men in his generation: he took his kids to church every Sunday and he said the blessing at meals.

One summer my father was diagnosed with a cancer so rare that none of his doctors had ever treated it.  His condition deteriorated rapidly, requiring hospitalization.  Nothing was effective against the cancer’s rapid progression. But even as his overall condition worsened, my father’s spirit amazed everyone.  He was his wonderful self, joking with the nurses even when he could barely breathe