Posted on 04/07/2013 7:32:25 AM PDT by CHRISTIAN DIARIST
This is a very nice read.
I never knew why these words were written:
When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
I share your sadness. Pastor Rick was my pastor for many years, and Pastor Ron Armstrong’s brother, Ray, is my current pastor. I’m sure this news has rocked Pastor Ray this morning, so close after finally seeing justice done for his nephew.
I wouldn’t say that Rick’s prayers went unanswered, though. Sometimes the answer is a simple “No.” We just don’t understand why.
Prayers to Rick and Kay, and the rest of the Saddleback family.
I am upset today about all the pain in the world and asking where is God. I have been reading about how the missionaries tried to beat the Indianness out of native American children. I have been telling God his experiment was a massive failure and that He needs to intervene and show us the fish rather than the stones and the snakes.
Perhaps Warren was born as an HSP, Highly Sensitive
Personality. Those of us with HSP are told all our lives
we are too sensitive, take things too personal and often
think we are the center of the universe. It’s a life of
constant highs and lows; pain and sometimes joy; mostly
the pain. I listen to Judy Marshall’s “Surviving As A
Sensitive Person” at least once a week. It helps to keep
me grounded when most of my life I have felt strange,
estranged and simply left out of the world most other
people enjoy.
Where did Warren get the gun?
Sacred sorrow is worship. Write your own Psalm and be reminded, as David was, that God is in control.
Perhaps Warren was born as an HSP, Highly Sensitive Personality.
Or maybe he had a melancholy temperament. These people tend to be sensitive to others, deep and thoughtful. They also tend to be perfectionists and set high standards, and when things don't go the way they want, they tend to become melancholy and depressed rather than angry.
What a tragedy the death of ones child, especially death by suicide,is devastating.
Your first day posting and all you can think of to say is “Where did Warren get the gun?”
Agreed.
Prayers up again for Pastor Warren and his family.
I’m always suspicious of psycho-drugs. I know a lot of people swear by them.
Your point is a true one. Christians aren’t immune to all the struggles of life, and we also take casualties. Good people have troubles they may or may not show to the world, and good people can have kids with troubles of their own. God doesn’t use perfect people, he uses people who are willing and available and they serve him often while struggling with problems others may or may not recognize.
I have seen God heal some things in an instant, some others over years, and some other things are simply never healed in this life. You will always struggle with them. You should always pray for healing, and expect it, but understand that there is more going on than meets the eye.
Actually, I think that is a fair question. Maybe not to be an issue now but I too wondered about that. Only because in one posting I read it said he had been out with his parents and enjoyed a nice time together and then he went to HIS house and that’s where he killed himself. It sounded like he lived apart from his parents and if so, with his mental health issues how did he have a gun in the house legally. Maybe this will be answered at a later time, now it is time to pray for the family.
Where did Warren get the gun?
California is not yet a Gun Free Paradise(r).
Two things:
First, there is this piece of wise and very old advice in cases such as this: “de mortuis, nil nisi bonum.” That is: “Concerning the dead, [say] nothing but good.”
Matthew Warren has put himself outside the judgment of any human being. God alone is his Judge now. To discuss his suicide, and its many possible causes, looking to attribute cause, strikes me as very inappropriate.
Second, here are words of consolation - for the living! - from a man who lived through the Thirty Years’ War (1619-1648) as it raged across his native land and killed many friends and neighbors, was shamefully dismissed from his work by his prince because he was faithful, saw four of his five children and his wife die before him, and then died in virtual exile. Perhaps it will give some comfort to those who know the weight of grief in their lives. (I do not expect non-Christians to understand).
The hymn (meter: 8 33 6 833 6)
Why should cross and trial grieve me?
Christ is near With His cheer;
Never will He leave me.
Who can rob me of the heaven
That God’s Son For my own
To my faith hath given?
Though a heavy cross I’m bearing
And my heart Feels the smart,
Shall I be despairing?
God, my Helper, who doth send it,
Well doth know All my woe
And how best to end it.
God oft gives me days of gladness;
Shall I grieve If He give
Seasons, too, of sadness?
God is good and tempers ever
All my ill And He will
Wholly leave me never.
Hopeful, cheerful, and undaunted
Ev’rywhere They appear
Who in Christ are planted.
Death itself cannot appall them,
They rejoice When the voice
Of their Lord doth call them.
Death cannot destroy forever;
From our fears, Cares and tears
It will us deliver.
I will close life’s mournful story,
Make a way That we may
Enter heav’nly glory.
What is all this life possesses?
But a hand Full of sand
That the heart distresses.
Noble gifts that pall me never
Christ, our Lord, Will accord
To His saints forever.
Lord, my Shepherd, take me to Thee.
Thou art mine; I was Thine
Even ere I knew Thee.
I am Thine, for Thou hast bought me;
Lost I stood, but Thy blood
Free salvation brought me.
Thou art mine; I love and own Thee.
Light of Joy, Ne’er shall I
From my heart dethrone Thee.
Savior, let me soon behold Thee
Face to face; May Thy grace
Evermore enfold Thee.
— Paul Gerhardt +1607-1676
Well, I just do not know what to say.
I have never heard of such a disorder, I almost thought
you were joking.
Thank you for posting. This is a truly beautiful piece of poetry.
Or maybe, it is as simple and horrible as the Warrens suggested ... he suffered from lifelong, clinical depression.
marron, you are welcome.
I read it over again (sung it in my head to be truthful), and, much to my dismay, found a couple of typos that were misleading. Sorry about that. So, I fixed them. Here ‘tis again:
The hymn (meter: 8 33 6 8 33 6)
Why should cross and trial grieve me?
Christ is near With His cheer;
Never will He leave me.
Who can rob me of the heaven
That God’s Son For my own
To my faith hath given?
Though a heavy cross I’m bearing
And my heart Feels the smart,
Shall I be despairing?
God, my Helper, who doth send it,
Well doth know All my woe
And how best to end it.
God oft gives me days of gladness;
Shall I grieve If He give
Seasons, too, of sadness?
God is good and tempers ever
All my ill And He will
Wholly leave me never.
Hopeful, cheerful, and undaunted
Ev’rywhere They appear
Who in Christ are planted.
Death itself cannot appall them,
They rejoice When the voice
Of their Lord doth call them.
Death cannot destroy forever;
From our fears, Cares and tears
It will us deliver.
It will close life’s mournful story,
Make a way That we may
Enter heav’nly glory.
What is all this life possesses?
But a hand Full of sand
That the heart distresses.
Noble gifts that pall me never
Christ, our Lord, Will accord
To His saints forever.
Lord, my Shepherd, take me to Thee.
Thou art mine; I was Thine
Even ere I knew Thee.
I am Thine, for Thou hast bought me;
Lost I stood, but Thy blood
Free salvation brought me.
Thou art mine; I love and own Thee.
Light of Joy, Ne’er shall I
From my heart dethrone Thee.
Savior, let me soon behold Thee
Face to face; May Thy grace
Evermore enfold me!
— Paul Gerhardt +1607-1676
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