I have a friend named Gene who I've known for 30 years.  He's 23 years my senior, so he's looking at 80 in the rearview mirror, and he is one of the truly great men who I know.  He's has done everything for me from lending me his lawn mower to helping to shovel snow off of my roof; making illusions for my show to being - in younger days- my cross country skiing partner.  He once said to me one of the most profound things I've ever been told: "God works in mysterious ways."

Okay, he wasn't the first to come up with that.  I remember hearing that cliche many times all the way back to my childhood.  It's been in songs, literature, and jokes.  But when he said it, it suddenly wasn't a cheesy cliche.  It was a profound truth.

You see, for our first six years of marriage, Sue and I were unable to conceive.  We went through various medical exams, surgery, medications, consults and more.  There's something about waiting for something to end (infertility) without any set time line or even a promise that an end will ever come at all, that creates a frustration like no other..  It was at the height of my frustration with this that Gene spoke those words.  

I'm not sure why they were so profound.  Perhaps because Gene had been through the same thing during his first marriage (his first wife passed away before I had met Gene).  Perhaps because he spoke with the sagacity of a fifty year old when I was still a twenty something kid.  Perhaps God just used that moment to open my eyes to how much bigger he is than I am, like the final chapters of Job. It was probably all of these things, I don't know, but it was a turning point.

Until then, I thought I should see a purpose in what we were going through.  It didn't help that everyone, it seemed, had their theories as to why we we not getting pregnant:

"God is using you too mightily in your ministry to slow you down with a child."

"Is there sin in your life?"

"He's purifying you."

Then there was the Sunday morning in our church parking lot, when I was told, "The economy is dropping, we're about to go to war in the Persian Gulf, and here you are wanting to have a baby."  I'm not sure if she meant we were doing something wrong, or not, but I certainly recognized the apocalyptic implication, "Do you really want a kid when the world is ending any moment now?"

Compared to these words of non-wisdom, Gene's cliche had tremendous depth and truth and more importantly love behind it.

I checked in on Gene the other day in the midst of this corna virus outbreak.  He and his wife, Barb, are doing well. Like all of us, though, they're waiting for the stay at home order to be lifted.   There's something about waiting for something to end (this pandemic) without any set time line or even a promise that an end will ever come at all that creates a frustration like no other. 

Like our times of waiting to start a family, a lot of people seem to know exactly why God is allowing this.  "It's a sign that Jesus is returning soon".  That presumption has lost something since the Gulf War, Y2K, 911, the formation of the European Union were all supposed to be the opening of the seventh seal.  "It's God's judgement on gays." That's hard to accept since there's no New Testament evidence that God still uses plagues to punish anyone.  Furthermore, China, where the virus started, still does not allow gay adoption or marriage.  Why would God's judgement on homosexuals start there? And Iran, not known for it's tolerance of LGBTQ people, was horribly hit  by corona.  "God is using this to simplify our complicated lives."  Perhaps, but I imagine few if any of us will continue with much of this new simplicity once things return to normal.

Perhaps, like me in my 20s and Job in the Old Testament, we won't get a clear answer as to why the pandemic is happening.  Perhaps God doesn't owe us an explanation, or perhaps we couldn't handle it or understand it if we got one. Perhaps, instead, we are to tear our cloaks like grieving Old Testament Jews, be in awe of God's greatness, and be Jesus in skin to those around us whom we can help.

After all, God work in mysterious ways.