EARTHYLY REWARDS

 In thinking recently about how sometimes when we face trials we get the sword, like James, and sometimes we get the angel, like Peter, I was reminded of a tough conversation I had had with one of my supervising teachers during my student teaching days.

Mr. D was a an upright and conscientious man and a good role model for me in the classroom. I appreciated his guidance and valued his judgment. That's why I was stricken with shame for making him terribly angry one day.

You see my grandfather passed away in the midst of my student teaching and, when I entered the classroom the next day, Mr. D kindly asked about the circumstances of his death.

I explained that it had been a bit of a surprise since Grandpa had been incredibly healthy - he had even received a rowing machine to keep up his exercise routines as a gift for his 80th birthday. Now, it was a few years later and he had simply fallen asleep one night at home, without so much as a common cold, and he had passed away in his sleep.

Mr. D agreed with me that it was the ideal way to go, but then he passionately and angrily disagreed with my assessment of why God granted a peaceful passing: "Grandpa lived and loved well, serving God his whole life, and I think the ease of his death was God's way of saying, 'Well done, good and faithful servant.'"

Mr. D got red in the face and I thought maybe he was going to leap over his desk at me.

Puzzled by his reaction, I was about to learn "the rest of the story", as Paul Harvey used to say.

Mr. D's father was a lifelong faithful pastor and his mother a devoted pastor's wife. Both of their lives were cut short as a result of a chance encounter with a drunk driver one dark night. 

Both parents, their bodies mangled, were rushed to the local hospital, where each lingered in excruciating pain, one for weeks and the other for months. Mr. D watched his parents suffer greatly before passing, one after the other, leaving him with a load of tough questions for God. 

Thus, to put it mildly, Mr. D did not care for my naïve theology of earthly rewards for faithful living.

I only remember apologizing and crawling away as quickly as possible.