When Bad Things Happen to Good People

Navigating tragedies - Preparing children for life's storms

Hurricane Helene devastated communities.

I woke up to images coming in from the devastating results of Hurricane Helene's ruthless attack. The stories are heartbreaking. Homes reduced to splinters. Others carried away by flood waters. Towns destroyed. Lives lost.

Hurricane Helene pushed her way into areas assumed to be out of her claws' ugly reach. People were unprepared for the level of devastation they endured. The twist that took the storm from its predicted path is proof that there are no "storm-free guarantees". When they strike, we want our houses to be left standing.

Why do bad things happen to good people?

For many, the wind and rain will continue to pound against the fabric of their emotional and spiritual well-being long after Helene's flood waters subside and their houses are rebuilt. Questions of "Why?" and "Why not?" threaten to chip away at weak spiritual foundations. In many instances, faulty materials supporting these foundations were put in place when they were children.

What do we say to children who are facing storms now and how do we prepare them for those they will face in the future? This was a question I grappled with when I witnessed a storm of great magnitude in the lives of my church's youths several years ago...

It was a category five.

The day the rains came down and the floods came up...

My husband, Jim, was in Mexico with a team of youth from our church. I stayed home to work on a VBS program we would offer to children from our church and our community later that summer. If the curriculum we selected hadn't required major rewrites, I would have been in Mexico too.

Earlier that year, I was on a team that met with its publishers to evaluate the material and advise writers of possible changes to be made before its release. The theme of one of its five lessons was "Jesus protects us". The lesson instructed VBS leaders to engage children in a discussion about things they were afraid of. Dogs? Thunderstorms? No need to fear. Jesus is always there to protect us!

I urged the writers to change the theme to "Jesus is always with us". Because...

• Dogs bite.

• Lightning is dangerous.

• Sisters die. Mine did. Crossing the road to get on a school bus. She was six.

Bad things happen, Even to children.

Months after my meeting with the writers, I was back at my desk when an email notification popped up from the publisher. I held my breath as I opened the document that announced their new VBS program was complete and ready for purchase. A quick scan of the daily themes brought disappointing news. There it was: "Jesus Protects Us." Nothing had changed.

It would have been easy to call a meeting of our leaders and give verbal instructions for an alternate "Jesus is always with us" lesson. But I couldn't chance it. I didn't want to risk a child receiving the wrong message because of a meeting one leader might have missed. So instead of accompanying youth to Mexico, I was pouring over scriptures and writing a lesson that leaned into the loving presence of Jesus, even when we walk through the storms of life.

That's when the call came...from Mexico. Not from my husband, but from Debbie, another youth leader with news that brought me to tears. Earlier that day, the youth team took a break from their work and went to the ocean for some recreational time. When the waters grew increasingly rough, leaders called the kids to come back to the shore. They came. All but one. Justin* was missing. We prayed the current had taken him further down the coast and safely to shore, but we knew the chances were slim. It wasn't until the following day that his body was discovered.

I sat in my house that evening, all alone, grateful my husband was ok but grieving the loss of one of our covenant children. The church pictorial telephone directory lay on the table in front of me. I picked it up and thumbed through its pages, stopping cold when I spotted a photo of children at a previous VBS program. There, in the middle, stood Justin. Peace swept over me when I thought of Justin and his friends who had grown up in our children's department. I felt they were prepared for the storm. Our kids knew that when Justin drew his last breath on earth, Jesus was holding his hand, welcoming him into his heavenly home. As I meditated on the photo of Justin and prayed for the Holy Spirit to minister to his friends during probably the most difficult day of their lives, I knew I had done the right thing to rewrite the VBS lesson.

That summer's tragedy was a true test of our youth's spiritual foundations. Had a block been inserted that said Jesus is always there to protect us, multiple houses could have crumbled... Teens turning away from a God who failed to do what He promised. But on the day of his funeral, Justin's friends stood up one by one, praising Jesus for sacrificing His own life so Justin could live eternally. No doubt, these kids were battered by the storm, but their foundations held firm.

There will be storms ahead for the children we teach. There will be times when flood waters pound against their spiritual foundations.

If you google for information on standing firm in the storm, this is advice you will find:

"Transforming your home into a hurricane-proof fortress starts with a solid foundation. This involves anchoring the foundation to the ground... According to FEMA, the first step of building a hurricane-proof house is solidifying your home’s foundation."

Google offers no advice on how to "hurricane-proof" your children, but their advice to build on solid foundations certainly applies to children as well as houses. God's Word pointed this out long before Google existed!

Matthew 7:25-25

The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.

Corinthians 3:11 

For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.

So there you have it. Firm foundations. Built on the rock. Jesus is our answer! We build on solid rock when we anchor children in the truth of the gospel, not feel-good messages that will bring smiles but offer no real hope on stormy days. It's important to be honest with children. We can't prevent the storms from coming, but we can begin now, firming up foundations that will stand when they do. 

Scriptural truths to point our children to when storms hit.

• We live in a broken world. We inherited the sinful nature that expelled Adam and Eve from God's perfect garden where there were no storms, no sickness, no death. BUT...

• God kept His promise to send a Redeemer.

  Jesus came to earth and showed us the love of His Father when He healed the brokenness. Through His touch, the blind could see, the lame could walk, and the dead lived again. Jesus died to pay the price for our sins. Because He died and rose again, those who put their faith and trust in Him will live again too!

• He will never leave us. No matter how big the storm is, He wraps us in His love!

  "For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:38-39

• God is sovereign. Even when we can't see any good in our circumstances, God is at work!

  • "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28

  • "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives."Genesis 5:20 

• The pain and sadness of this world is temporary. The day will come when...

   "He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." Revelation 12:4

There is peace in knowing that Jesus loves us and will never leave us. He cares about our pain and sorrow. He walks with us through the storms and promises our eternity is secure in Him. And while the pain inflicted by the storm is painful, we can look forward to the day when He will dry every tear. There will be no more death. No mourning. No crying. No pain.

This is the stuff strong foundations are made of. This is the foundation of Jesus!

*The story of Justin is true, but his name has been changed for this article.