Job's Reminder

You have probably heard the story of Job in the bible who loses everything at one stage of his life, home, family and health. The story is unfortunately poorly told since in it God strikes a bargain with the devil, testing Job's faith. Well, few in this community would believe in such a naive concept, but unfortunately the problem statement remains. Our modern day Job is Harold S Kushner when he wrote 'When Bad Things Happen to Good People'. Rabbi Kushner lost a son, a similar fate as psychologist Gordon Livingston who lost two sons within just a year. "How can I believe in a God"' Gordon Livingston asks, "who would allow something like that to happen?" You can try aiming for a pleasant life, but if life grabs you by the testicles (the female reader may excuse my male bias in this phrase, but I am sure you get the picture nevertheless) you cannot help but playing your part in life's tragedy. Perhaps that is where the expression 'you have a job to do' comes from. The one spiritual right you have though is to understand why: ask, and God will explain to you why you have been chosen as the heroine. I am sure that Rabbi Kushner and Gordon Livingston understood when they put their pain on paper that in the process they helped millions and millions of people in their healing process.