I attended my grandson’s high school graduation where diplomas were presented to the seniors by their parents. Since this was a home school group, emotions ran high as each set of parents spoke a few words expressing their thoughts to their children.

I was impressed that every senior was accompanied to the microphone by two parents—so unusual in today’s world of broken families.  All, that is, except Kristen. Her mom, Carol, would so much have wanted to be there for this moment. But her life had been cruelly taken three years earlier by a man who went on a rampage pistol-whipping three members of the family. Kristen’s two siblings, ages 10 and 14, survived, but her mom did not. Kristen’s dad bravely presented the diploma to his daughter—alone.

Why had God not prevented this? Yet the reality of life is that hard things happen to believer and unbeliever alike.

The difference is that we who have faith in Jesus Christ are not without hope. To go through a tragedy without hope is to despair. To go through the same situation with the Lord is to have the assurance that we will one day be reunited with those we love. That knowledge brings comfort that the unbeliever does not have.

The Bible says,

In a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. Then the saying will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you.  1 Corinthians 15:51-58, excerpted

The Kristen’s family is awaiting that glorious family reunion.