Doesn’t life often seem full of tragedy? I know I have my fair share of tragic moments, my mother died with I was 18, I have had health problems, I lost an eye due to a botched surgery by the VA. Over the past several years there has been an uptick in the number of mass shootings. There’s no rhyme or reason behind it other than hatred of some people. Around the nation, the murder rate is up in major cities. 2020 and 2021 saw millions of people around the world die from COVID. Tragedy seems to have become part of our everyday lives. There is a chance at some time in a person’s life we will have something go wrong and that we will consider it to be a tragedy. The most frequent questions I am asked about tragedy, are what causes tragedy? Is it God? Does God send tragedy to us?

Let’s look at the first question, what does cause tragedy. In the old days, there were many who thought that if you experienced tragedy a sin of your ancestors might have caused it. In John chapter 9 verses 1-3 – It’s the story of the blind man – “As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?”  Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”  In other words, yes, God did permit this to happen. Yes, it is sad that the man went through so much of his life sightless. When Jesus cured him, it helped to display the power of the Lord and His ability to heal. Even though my eyesight wasn’t restored by a miracle, what I went through gave a new appreciation for the gifts I have. I can now relate to those who are experiencing a tragedy, or other misfortune. Do we sometimes cause our own tragedies?

Yes we often cause our own tragedies, because of our decision. In the Gospel of Luke chapter 13 verses1-3, we find, “Now on the same occasion there were some present who reported to Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. And Jesus said to them, ‘Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.’”  We often do wonder why this or that happens to people, especially ourselves. The reality is we know the things that can cause us harm. If we smoke, if we drink too much, if we drive to fast, if we drive drunk, these are all actions that we take that can cause a tragedy either in our life or the lives of others. Hiking in bear country and want to take a selfie with a bear, you will suffer a tragedy. Leaning over the edge of a cliff to get that one really dramatic selfie offers a good possibility of having another tragedy strike. If you are driving and then send a text to a friend, you are inviting trouble.

Some tragedies though are not an individual’s fault. We had a massive rainstorm that caused extreme flooding, some folks lost their homes, some lost their lives. Tornadoes destroy towns, earthquakes that take thousands of lives, these are natural disasters, and no single individual is responsible. Now God did design this planet and those storms are part of the design, we sometimes make them worse by our selection of where we build, our tragedies are compounded by our own choices.

So we understand that at some point in our lives we will face a tragedy, so now I want to talk about how we should manage tragedy and if possible avoid it. The easiest answer on how to avoid tragedy is, well we really can’t but we can take precautions to minimize our risk. One thing to do is to make certain we build our foundation on solid ground both physically and spiritually. In book of Proverbs, in chapter 10, verse 25, we read, ‘“When the whirlwind passes, the wicked is no more, But the righteous has an everlasting foundation.”  In this verse, the teacher is talking about the whirlwind of life and how without a stron...