“Maybe there’s a God above
But all I’ve ever learned from love
Was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you
It’s not a cry you can hear at night
It’s not somebody who has seen the light
It’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah”
-Lyrics from Leonard Cohen’s, “Hallelujah”
Our brightest light ignites from the most broken of places within our soul; this light has been refined and kept aflame in secret. It is within this raw flame that our Creator burns most brilliantly and it is by harnessing this flame that we can change the world.
This week has been full of heartbreak. From the mass murder spree in Norway to Amy Winehouse succumbing to her battle with addiction, many of us have been collectively in a place of mourning. What appropriate timing then that I should be introduced to the Coloura’s, an extraordinarily brave family who lost their son at childbirth.
Manuel, Elaine and Collin Coloura
Collin Xavier Coloura was delivered stillborn on April 18, 2011. Elaine had gone into labor two days prior – where Collin was confirmed to be alive and well – only to be sent home from the hospital without the on-call Doctor even examining her. Elaine was in pain and unknowingly suffering from preeclampsia – a medical condition whereby hypertension arises during pregnancy – which should have resulted in an emergency C-section. By her scheduled appointment on Monday, Collin had passed. Her Doctor’s only response was, “Oh! the Doctor on-call should have caught this!” Sadly, an autopsy determined that Collin was a perfectly healthy little boy and his death was a case of gross negligence and human error.
Manuel and Collin Coloura
When any unexplainable/unimaginable/unpredictable tragedy strikes our lives or our global community, blaming and questioning God seems to be part the initial human response. It’s only natural; if one believes that God is all powerful, then He has the ability to change any and every outcome. Right?
In short:Â Yes, but there is an order to this universe of ours.
Famous world-renowned physicist (and atheist), Stephen Hawking once said that he was “not religious in the normal sense” but believed that “the universe is governed by the laws of science. The laws may have been decreed by God, but God does not intervene to break the laws.”
I don’t wholly agree with this statement, as I am of the belief that God does intervene, but Hawking raises an interesting point. The notion that our universe is governed by a set of laws is both biblically and scientifically sound. It would stand to reason that if God intervened and prevented every tragic situation in our lives and on our planet, not only would free will cease to exist, but there would be no more pain, sorrow, suffering, famine, rape or abuse. Sound familiar? Sounds like the biblical explanation of heaven to me. And unfortunately, my friends, the day of Light has not yet come.
How then do we survive the darkness? One crooked step at a time.
We have one of two roads by which to travel:  a road that will deepen our wisdom, compassion, tolerance, and unconditional love or a road filled with sadness, sorrow, bitterness and hopelessness. We must choose wisely and be steadfast in our journey, as this is the time where the light of our soul is refined and pruned:
A Pruned Tree
1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. -John 15:1-4
We were never promised a path free from sadness and sorrow. We were promised a path that would be illuminated by His light, wisdom and love. My dear ones, there is no greater testament of faith and no weapon mightier than allowing His light shine from and on the blackest part of our soul.
14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:14-16
Every single one of our tragedies and triumphs can be used as fuel to light this world. How could we ever know true joy without experiencing true sorrow? Our stories within this spectrum of experiences can change people’s lives for the better. Therefore, it is time. It is overdue. To let your light, no matter how broken, shine.
ACTION STEP
Many states in America (including Texas, where Collin was born) do not recognize a stillborn baby as a human being. Many states also prevent families who are ripped apart by stillbirth from taking any legal action against medical professionals in situations of malpractice. Even more devastating is that the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) does not include time off for grieving parents. Get involved in this discussion, educate yourself and vote as your heart leads. Sign a petition to help grieving parents!
Hey, Elaine and Manuel – Collin’s light is changing the world!
Elaine and Collin Coloura
The Coloura family wishes to purchase a well through Holden Uganda that will hydrate hundreds of children in Collin’s name. If you’re led, please give your tithe/donation in order that we may make this life-giving memorial a reality by CLICKING HERE! (Once the link uploads, create an account and donate in COLLIN COLOURA’s name)
God’s Fencepost is a weekly meditation/devotional that deals with morality and current events. I, Shannon Ivey, am an openly flawed human being who simply pens what I perceive to be the important reflections of God’s mercy, creativity and unconditional love. My mother always said that God can use something as simple as a fencepost as a mouth-piece, so that’s what my column humbly aims to be. . . “God’s Fencepost.”
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Always at times like these do we have crises of Faith; and the age old question rears its head.
Why do bad things happen to good people?
We always want God to intervene on our behalf, keep the evil away, and the temptation at a minimum. We don’t understand why a man would dress as a police officer and murder more than fifty people because he was angry about the increasing Muslim population in his country, or why a woman would be sent home when she was in labor…or why Bill Buckner would miss an easy grounder to firstbase and cost the Boston Red Sox the ’86 world series.
Wait (you might be asking) what does an infamous baseball error have to do with the other two?
Truth is, they’re all actually the same thing; errors. We cannot conceive why an on-call doctor would send home a woman in labor without examining her. Why someone who knew this man in Norway didn’t see signs that he was preparing for this kind of large-scale operation, or why Buckner just couldn’t put his knee on the ground and stop that ball.
Errors. Failure to act.
We don’t know what happened at the hospital the day Mrs. Coloura went in; at least, we don’t know what happened on the medical side of the issue. An overworked on-call doctor may have forgotten to ask for an examination of the mother. A nurse might have been thinking of another patient when the doctor said “send her home” and wrote “Coloura” when it should have been “Smith” or something else.
And then we wonder why didn’t God intervene in these situations? Why not keep the baby alive by his His divine power, or make someone extra alert when a man who was not a cop, dressed as one and went out in public heavily armed? Or why He couldn’t make that ball bounce into Buckner’s glove and end the long misery of the Boston Red Sox Fans?
We all want God to act in our best interest. We all want Him to intervene when we feel something is not right and it should be fixed.
But in which of these situations is it appropriate for the Almighty to step in and bend the physical and psychological laws He created? Which of these situations is worthy of Divine intervention? Before you answer “Norway and the stillborn baby” consider the fact that Bill Buckner has endured a lifetime of ridicule and hatred for the simple fact that he let one crucial grounder get by him. Consider the fact one or two rabid Red Sox fans may have committed crimes as a result of that error.
OK (you may be saying to yourself)then God should intervene and prevent all these things; nothing bad should ever be allowed to happen. Evil should be stamped out and only good things should occur.
Problem is: who defines “good”? Should every single person live to old age, free from disease and misery? Maybe no one should ever die!
We all want to put God in a box. We want Him to do good things for us and others. We want Him to punish evildoers. We also tend to want Him to leave us alone when we do wrong.
God has already defined what “good” is. But He has also granted us the free will to either choose good or evil, and unfortunately many people choose evil; such as killing a bunch of innocents to make a point, or forgetting to perform a simple medical exam because other things are preoccupying the mind. And sometimes, the baseball just takes a bad bounce, and it goes rolling between our feet and the other team scores the winning run.
That’s life. It’s what God designed it to be so that when those who accept His Son as the Messiah do finally get to that place where no one dies, there is no disease, evildoers don’t even exist, we can fully appreciate the pure joy of eternity with Him and His children. It’s a place where Collin Coloura is now, and he no doubt is counting the days until he is reunited with his mother.
In the meantime, the rest of us grieve the Coloura’s loss, as well as the losses of all those families in Norway. We pat Buckner on the shoulder and tell him it could have happened to any of us. We do our best to follow God’s definition of what is good. And we move forward, trying not to look back in anger or bitterness.
His will be done.
Thank you so much for your response. What a beautiful answer to such a complicated problem.