Ton of Bricks

Life moves pretty fast sometimes—and not always in positive, Ferris Bueller kinds of ways.

Six months ago, I met up at the local Village Inn with one of my troupe's fans. Over breakfast, as he had outlined in his phone call to me the day before, he excitedly elaborated on his plans to propose marriage to his girlfriend. Their first date had been attending one of our shows a few months previously, and he wanted to bring things full circle by moving ahead with his plan at that week's performance. We were more than willing to help him out, and we devised a scheme that everyone in the troupe was in on.

The plan—as much as you can plan something in improv, anyway—went off without a hitch. He asked, and she said yes. The audience stood up and cheered for what seemed like five straight minutes. It was a beautiful moment that I will not soon forget.

I wish that their story ended here.

However, just a few days ago, this young man's life was cut short in an instant. The life that this couple had started to build together had been brought to an abrupt halt almost as quickly as it had begun.

I don't understand it.

I've learned, and I'm learning, that there are many things that occur in this life that make absolutely no sense whatsoever. They are not fair. They are not right. At times, they seem cruel and pitiless. Nevertheless, they occur, and there is nothing any of us can do about them.

I still do not have the appropriate words for when a friend is grieving. I do not think I ever will. I do not pretend to make sense of horrific pieces of news like the one about this friend's unexpected passing. I will not try to do so tonight.

I will say, though, that a crucial part of faith—of my own faith, at least—is trust in our Heavenly Father's plan. Part of that trust includes trust in the fact that these inexplicable things will happen, and we won't know the reasons during the here and the now. Nevertheless, my faith is that they will given someday.

Another crucial part of that trust is that all will be made right in the end, and that He will wipe away all of our tears. Further, He will restore to us beyond our comprehension our losses and heartaches suffered in this mortal coil and will reward us according to the desires of our hearts.

I know it. Even when there's so much I don't know.