A few days ago, our assignment for Bible class was on the Book of Job.
It spurred me to re-read this article from Azure magazines, a few issues back.
I thought this was a very interesting (if not completely convincing in every single example) take on Job.
I also just finished reading a book by Donovan Campbell, called "Joker One: A Marine Platoon's Story of Courage, Leadership, and Brotherhood." Great book, highly recommended.
Here's the part that seemed to be to be highly relevant to my schoolwork for the week. The background is this: the platoon was stationed in Ramadi in spring 2004 - a time when the insurgency was really going strong and there were a lot of American casualties. Campbell was leading a small squad out on a patrol and they stopped to hand out some soccer balls and candy to a bunch of kids. Some insurgents decide this would be an excellent time to fire RPG's, even though there were obviously a bunch of little kids hanging around the Marines. After the RPG lands and kills a bunch of kids, instead of taking cover, a Lance Corporal stays out in the open to administer first aid to the kids - and he is killed.
Campbell writes: "Despite the anguish, and the self-doubt, and all the questions, I wasn't ready to give up on God just yet. I didn't understand the tragedy of Bolding [the lance corporal's] death, and I still don't and I won't pretend to, but seeing the simple faith of my Marines made me realize that, as a leader, I had a very basic choice to make: 1) I could throw in the towel on God - in other words, rationalize away my inability to understand and comprehend the infinite by stating that He didn't exist; or 2 I could accept the fact that this life is painful, and tragic, and messy, and that God's designs often don't coincide with my plans and that many times I won't, and will never, understand why that don't, but that none of this means that God doesn't exist or that He is isn't ultimately good. The first choice, as I saw it, offered me no hope. Without God, then Bolding's life and death were meaningless - he served no ultimate purpose, he worked for no greater good...With God, though, Bolding's life and death were in service of the infinite, of a personal deity who cared and who intended the best for His people, even if they didn't see it or didn't want it. The second choice offered me hope, and I reached for it and strapped myself back into the responsibility of leadership."
I had finished Joker One after that particular class session and this quote stood out in light of all the discussions about Job.
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