Reflections on the C-130 Crash, Josh Marlowe, and the Sovereignty of God

I'm working on this blog while lying on my office floor.  Why?... you ask?  Well, I have this weird back problem.  Not often, but once in a while, my lower back just decides to rebel, go on strike, stage a "sit in.”  I end up on the floor rolling around like a "professional" wrestler. It's really quite embarrassing!

At any rate, laying here on the floor I'm reminded of how little control we have over our lives.  One little back spasm, one little diagnosis, one little accident, one little market "realignment" and suddenly we get a sobering reminder that we are really not in the driver's seat.

We’re really not the master of our own fate, the captain of our own ships.  We are definitely not in control!

This past week, while flying a mission to help extinguish wild fires in South Dakota and Wyoming, a C-130 plane went down.  Tragically, the crash killed four men.  Two others were critically injured.  One of those men was Josh Marlowe. 

I had the privilege of providing premarital guidance and conducting the wedding ceremony for Josh and his wife, Cindy.  Just a couple weeks ago I was blessed to participate in the dedication of the newest addition to their family.  I’m really grateful for the opportunity to get to know them both better and even more grateful that Josh’s recovery has surpassed everyone’s expectations.

Along with thousands of other global incidents, this plan crash is yet another reminder that human beings are ultimately not in control of our lives no matter how much we would like to think we are.  Control is an illusion. 

This brings us to a doctrine that is central to both Judaism and Christianity, the sovereignty of God.  Simply stated, we believe that God is in control.

And this brings us to a difficult question, one for which I don’t claim to have a completely satisfactory answer.  If God is in control then why does he allow bad things to happen to good people?  

If God is sovereign then why do thousands of children die of starvation every day?  If God is sovereign then why do thousands of people battle cancer, or mental illness, or addiction?  If God is sovereign then why did four men die in a plane crash while two survived?

I haven’t had a chance to talk to Josh yet but my guess is he has asked himself the same question. 

I know I can’t offer the families of those who died any consolation with my ramblings but I would like to explore something that I think is central to the biblical revelation.  The reality, the one I think we all know deep in our being, is that we live in a broken, imperfect world.  We live in a world where, in some places, there is not enough clean drinking water for the people there to survive.  We live in a world in which human beings do violence to one another.  (Very early in the Bible we read about a man who killed his brother.)  We live in a world where fires destroy wild life, whole forests, homes and human beings.  We live in a broken, dysfunctional world.

Why?  Here’s the biblical answer.  The Bible teaches that the sovereign God loved his creation enough to give the human beings he created freedom; freedom to do great good and freedom to do great harm.  Like any good parent, he loves his children enough to let us make our own mistakes.  Those mistakes, what the Bible calls sin, quickly led to the disintegration of human society.  According to the Bible, eventually sin had seeped so deeply into the human soul that “every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.” (Genesis 6:5)

Yet this same sovereign God would not sit by and watch his world sink deeper into sin.  So he descended, he came down to us.  The central message in the Holy Scriptures is that God came to us in Jesus, the Christ – the deliver, the redeemer.  No one ever taught like Jesus.  He taught us to love our neighbors as ourselves, to bless those who curse us, to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.  He lived what he taught and in love for this world he gave his life.  Through his death and resurrection he defeated evil and launched a movement that is bringing the light of God’s love into a very dark and dysfunctional world.

On their mission, Josh Marlowe and five other brave men (some possibly without even realizing it) were acting out the teachings of Jesus and modeling his life giving nature.  In selfless, sacrificial service they were working to bring relief to suffering people that they didn’t even know.  In that effort some lost their lives.  They lost their lives because the world we live in is still broken and in darkness even though the light of Christ is piercing the darkness every day.   

But here’s the good news.  One day God’s redemptive movement in this world will be brought to completion.  The sovereign God will reign over a new heaven and a new earth free from tears, free from pain, healed and restored. 

Laying here on the floor reflecting on all of this I know that my answer is woefully inadequate for the families of those who didn’t return from their mission over the fires in South Dakota.  I really can’t tell you why some lived and others died.  All I can do is offer the biblical hope, the assurance, that in the end God wins back his creation.  The invitation to those who suffer now is to trust the one who, through his life, death and resurrection is bringing new life to a broken world.

On behalf of the Zoar Church family, I extend our deepest gratitude to all of these men and their families.  In this most difficult time, may you feel the peace of God and the warmth of his love for you.