Does God Take Our Loved Ones?????

     Some people go the majority of their lives and don't lose a person they love, not so in my case.  I lost one very important person before I was ever born.  My mom's mother died 2 years before I was born.  I am told she was a wonderful person, and I am so sorry I didn't get to know her.  Then when I was about 12 years old I had about 4 different friends that lost one of their parents.  One of those parents was sort of like my second mother.  She made a lemon pie for me every time she knew I was coming to spend the night at her house and because she knew I didn't like the crust or the meringue, she made me my own bowl of pudding.  I then lost my own father when I was 21.  Mike and I have lost all of our grandparents and parents by the time we were 43 years old, with the exception of Grandmother McComas.  We also lost our son when he was 21 years old.  This raised so many questions in my mind. How different our lives would have been if these people had lived longer.
     There are so many people who want to comfort you and say the right thing.  They are truly feeling sympathy for you.  They want to help.  They don't know what to say.  I've had people tell me, God needed them to be with him.  Now you have an angel in heaven watching over you.  It was their time.  Well, here goes.  I am sure I am going to ruffle some feathers.....even make some people mad or upset....but I don't believe any of that.  I am not sure why people think that God "takes" people.  Death is a part of life, it does seem final.  The truth is, death is a new beginning not the end. In Psalm 90 vs. 10 it says that the average age of death is 70-80 years old.  In Ecclesiastes 8:8 is says "No one has power to restrain the wind, nor power over the day of death".
     So why do people want to blame God for killing our parents, spouses, friends or even our child.  If you think kill is a strong word..."take" indicates kill..God takes someone.  However, there is a verse in the Old Testament that says God is not the Grim Reaper but the Good Shephard.  In 2nd Samuel 14:14 it reads, "Like water spilled on the ground which cannot be recovered, so we must die.  But that is not what God desires; rather, he devises ways so that a banished person does not remain banished from him" (NIV).  We have free will and life happens.  Good people have bad things happen to them.  When these bad things happen we must face them head on, Batten Down The Hatches and go on with life.  Believe me, I know that is not always the easiest thing to do.  It is so very hard to understand when a young person dies.  We know we should be happy that they have gone on to be with God, but the loss causes us so much pain that it is hard to endure.  I refuse to believe that God took Ryan or that he needed him more.  God does not need us....we need him.  Humans do not become angels.  You are either human or you were an angel made even before we humans were made.  God is a God of love, understanding, and comfort.  Christ promised God's peace in even the darkest of circumstances, John 14:27, and we should remember that even God's son was not spared from death.
     God didn't "take" anyone.  Instead, he was born from this life into another, not because God desired his presence in heaven, nor because God was seeking to punish anyone.  Instead, he died because that's what happens to all of us.  Those of us who are left behind, who await our earthly end, have the opportunity to draw once again upon the grace, the strength, and the promises that God made to us all.  He is always ever near.  "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age", Matthew 28:20.
 
     I wrote this several months ago.  I saved it and did not post, but it showed up this week when I have been getting caught up on other blogging that I usually do.  I don't really remember who had said something to me or what had happened that made me stay up most of one night writing the above blog, but something motivated me enough to start writing and keep it up until I felt better I guess. I read it again tonight and I still feel the same way I did when I wrote it, sooooooo I am going to hit the publish button and we will see who reads it and what reaction I get if any.