Here you go again...

The job isn't working out as you'd hoped...
School fills your day with boredom and your night with busywork...
Marriage demands much but gives little in return...
Separation and divorce promises relief but fails to keep that promise...
Your mother died, your sister died, your mother's sister died...
A storm rolls in, the foundation under your home rolls away...
Loneliness consumes you, people drain you...
Sorrows pile up, tears leak out...
Here you go again...

The words of a favorite song come to mind again tonight...

"He never promised that the cross would not get heavy,
and the hill would not be hard to climb.
He never offered our victories without our fighting,
but He said help would always come in time.
Just remember when you're standing in the valley of the decision
and the adversary says, 'Give in,'
Just hold on - our Lord will show up and
He will take you through the fire again."
(Warning: If you cannot abide country or bluegrass music, don't click on this link...)

Recently, someone challenged me about the thinking behind that song:
If God is so almighty and all-knowing,
why take us through the fires over and over again?
why not take us around the fires?
why not take us over the fires?
why can't we simply avoid fires altogether?

My answer was simple: I do not know.
I don't know why I have had to go through so many fires.
I don't know why any of us have to go through all the fires we face in our lives.
I am fairly certain many fires are yet to come.
I am absolutely certain that I will cling to this feeble faith of mine.
I will cling to the belief that God will, in fact, take me through the fire again.
Through to the other side.
Wherever, wherever, or whatever that other side may be."

Here you go again, L.
Here you go again, T.
Here you go again, N.
Here you go again, J.
Here we all go again.

Just hold on. Our Lord will show up.
And He will take you through the fire again.
And again.
And again.