Levi.

(I started writing this two weeks ago. And just got around to finishing it.)

Today at school was such a heavy day. Another senior at our school died on Saturday in a car accident.
For most of us, there are no words to accurately describe the loss we feel, but cling on to the knowledge that the whole school shares in the grief. There is no doubt Levi made a profound impact on our lives. But many of us are at a loss for what to feel, and a lot of questions spring up. I've heard so many, "Why did God do this to someone so young?" questions, or simply the pithy "Why?" that accurately describes the lack of words we face as we grieve. I've heard God's name mentioned in more status' over this than I've seen in awhile. I've seen a lot of Bible verses, encouraging words, and also a lot of blame toward God. And I'm definitely not going to write a blog saying how to deal with such a loss, I think time has to run it's course as we all pray and love each other through it.

I wish all of us could understand God's perspective. He promised our life would be "but a breath" (Psalm 39:5), but when someone is 70-80, it seems okay that they die because they've lived a long life. But when kids and teenagers like Levi die so unexpectedly, it seems unfair. In actuatlity, though, life is just a breath no matter how long. Eternity is well, FOREVER, and our finite brains can only understand what we know, which is this breath of a life we know. We can only understand so much, we are so trapped in this concept of time we know. We know one time, and how worldy our perception is. Yet, it is all we can understand... Indeed, we are trapped.

It is okay to be grieving though. I hate when people pass death off with, "well, they are in a better place now, so let's all rejoice." As true as that may be, it is our nature to mourn when there is death. Even Jesus cried over his friend Lazarus when he died, though he knew fully well that he would be raised from the dead in a matter of moments. In Ecclesiastes, Solomon writes, "(There is) a time to be born and a time to die... a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to grieve and a time to dance." (3:2;4) When Jesus was crying, many people said, "'but this man healed a blind man. Couldn't he have kept Lazarus from dying?' (John 11:37) This is exactly the same question we ask God after any death. "Why God? Why so young? You did (Fill in the blank here) so why couldn't you (fill in the blank here)?" And as much as we want to figure out why things happened the way they did, God wants our hearts and our lives and to trust Him with the things we don't understand.

I don't think Levi was supposed to die. But he did, and although it hurts incredibly, God is Holy and omnipotent and still fully powerful. And who are we to tell God what He ought to have done? Now is the time to grieve and mourn. But there will be rejoicing and I think a lot of lives saved through the tragedy. What an incredible man Levi was, we will miss him terribly.