Sometimes we forget that life is meant to be an adventure, and adventures are not a walk in the park. Sometimes they are scary, often they are unpredictable but they always bring change and help us grow.

One of the hardest things to deal with is the issue of death. We try to avoid it but it has an amazing way of finding us, often just when we least expect it. In John 11, the experience of Mary and Martha showed that there are shadows in the love of God. His people feel pain and there are personal struggles they have to deal with. God's love for us is not self-indulgent; it is working for our good. Yet, there is compassion. And, when Jesus came to the tomb of Lazarus, he wept. He saw the invasion of death in his father's world and shed tears of sorrow and compassion. But death was not the end - for into. the normal equation of life came the resurrection and the life (v25). And out of their tears and pain came a wonderful new chance of life: for Mary, Martha and, most importantly, for Lazarus.

Why am I talking about death? Because we cannot outrun it and we cannot make it go away - but we have the victory over it