"I know you're
angry with Me right now. That's all right. People have been angry
with Me before and will be again. Being angry is part of being human.
My Son got angry, too. It's all right to be angry sometimes at injustice,
for example, or the lack of charity.
"You probably think I am
unjust and uncharitable when an airplane goes down like that. All those
people lost. The children gone. It doesn't seem right; it can't be loving.
You ask, 'Where was God?' Why did He allow that to happen?
"I allow it to happen because
I allow you freedom. I could have left you on a string and made you dance
all day without getting tired. I could have moved your mouth for you and
made you sing all night without growing hoarse. I could have pulled a wire
that would have let you soar skyward and never fall.
"I could have, but I didn't
because I love you so much. I want you to be free to decide when to dance
and sing. Free to determine when you will come to Me in faith and
hope. Because you are free, some of you choose not to dance or sing.
Some of you select hatred over love, revenge over forgiveness, bombs over
a helping hand. As you choose, I watch. I do not disappear. I listen to
both the songs and the bombs. AND I REMEMBER.
"Where was God?" you wonder...I
was there. I whispered in the ear of a little girl, 'Don't be afraid, I
am with you.' I held the hand of a business woman as tightly as she clutched
mine. I cradled a pilot against my shoulder as if he were a baby
again.
"Amid the paralysing fear,
I was there, as I was there with my Son in the garden. Amid the unbearable
pain, I was there, as I was with Him as He was whipped. Amid the terrible
realisation that life was ending too soon, I was there, with Him as He
hung on the cross and asked, like you, 'My God, why have you forsaken Me?'
"I had not forsaken Him.
I did not forsake them. I was there as they fell, and as they rose to eternal
joy. I listened to their anger, answered their questions and showed them
why they had been created. Not to end that way, but to live with Me forever.
"In an instant, they came
into existence. As you did. In an instant, they left this world. As you
will. But beyond that last instant, I kept my promise...A little girl dances,
a business woman sings, and a pilot keeps his wings forever."