My parents ensured their children were raised knowing the importance of faith and God. Faith in God was never questioned as a youth. However, the older I got the more I questioned my faith.

During twenty-eight years as a police officer there would be numerous times I would deal with death. Some were harder to understand than others. Each of those deaths caused me to question why God would take someone so young, or with a good and promising life ahead of them.

What did they do to deserve to die? Especially those so young.

I asked those questions. “Why him or her. They did not deserve to die.” 

One of those hard to understand was the death of a seven-year-old boy. He died when a single sliver of glass pierced his heart when he accidentally fell into a glass storm door. Why would God take someone so young. What did he do to deserve to die?

Then there was a mother whose only crime was turning her head to see her child in the back seat was doing. She went through a red light and was struck broadside by a semi-trailer truck. She and her three children died that day. God tested not only my faith that day, but all the others involved as we dealt with their lifeless bodies. I asked God why?

After that day, my faith in God had become almost nonexistent. I knew I needed help. So, I went early one morning to my church.  I knelt and prayed. Looking up at the crucifix, I could feel a sense of peace enter my mind. It was as if God wanted me to realize death at any age is just a step in our journey to eternal life. That our faith in him must never waver.