When Tragedy Occurs / Do Bad Things Happen In Threes?

Whenever you hear bad news, how often have you heard people say: Watch out, bad things happen in 3s?    Sounds like superstition to me.  Three is such a small number and a total low enough that can be reached for any number of similar circumstances.   I'll just say that sometimes things appear to happen in groups of three; sometimes they don't.

In recent events of people with whom I am acquainted, there have been three instances of a mom passing away.  One was a couple of weeks ago which I described here in my blog; a second was just last week when a friend from high school  (my age) passed away.  In both situations there was some warning. For the former, the family had known for the past year that she had a serious heart condition and needed a transplant; for the latter, she was told that death from leukemia was "imminent" 26 years ago and used that knowledge to truly live each day with her family as if it were her last with them.  On Friday while my husband and I were out of town a woman from our church, again, about my age, went into the hospital with a very serious viral infection and both her kidneys shut down. Doctors told the family there is not much else they can do.   She passed away early this morning.

One's life can totally change over the course of a weekend or even overnight, to be sure.  Last week an old friend, a year older than I am, was admitted to the hospital with pain that  he thought was a heart attack.  It turned out to be stress-related but while there, discovered he had diabetes which he did not know.  Just being aware of that could add many years to his life since there are many things you can do for diabetes.  God was gracious to  him. 

I know firsthand how shocking a potential life tragedy can be and all the thoughts that run through your mind when it affects you or IS you.  When I was 37  years old I had an ectopic pregnancy (three years after my first son was born, two years before the second).  The doctors had told us that it could be fatal and to be extremely careful while they continued to run a few more tests.  The egg almost ruptured within a fallopian tube but I had surgery and that tube and the egg were removed in time.  Obviously I did not die then and even though I was told that a second child was highly unlikely "at my advanced age" , our second son was born just fine two years later.  Praise God it has been 17 years since then and no other complications have occurred.

What were the thoughts that went through my mind?  I prayed that my older son (who was 3 years old at the time) would not be angry with or turn away from God if I should die and that he would be loved and cared for if I were not with him as he grew up.  I am thrilled to say that my TWO sons are now 20 and 15, so even if tragedy should occur,  they are both entering adulthood which gives me great peace and I am thankful for that.

We do not know the length of our days and our lives can change drastically overnight.   Read your Bible.  Be ready.

Lord, teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom. (Psalm 90:12)

These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. (I John 5:13)