I was at my computer in my InWord office proofing a design draft of a Bible study on the gospel of John, a study we had hoped to release by September 11, 2001. I was behind on the deadline. So when my wife Dana called to let me know that a plane had hit one of the World Trade Center towers, I dismissed it as a small Cessna or Piper Cub that must have gotten lost or had engine trouble, and I kept proofing.
Then Dana called back a few minutes later to say it was a passenger jet that hit the tower and that I should get home to see the news. But I was behind on my deadline and kept pressing on my proofing.
She called a third time to say that another passenger jet had hit the other tower. I now knew that my deadline didn’t matter. The world had changed. I went home and saw the towers fall.
That was 17 years to the day, almost to the hour as I type these words. Strikingly, it was Tuesday, September 11, the same day and date as today. Curiously (and randomly), today is the day we launch the promotion of a new InWord study that was released two weeks ago on the subject of loss and suffering. Entitled, Lossology 101: Developing a Personal Theology of Loss, the small-group study is an introductory exercise in thinking theologically about the suffering that this world can dish out. On this date 17 years ago, it dished out a lot.
And it keeps dishing it out. That day itself was an unprecedented day of loss. And there has been much loss since. In my own life I’ve lost numerous family members and friends in these 17 years, including my wife Dana who passed away December 23, 2009 of breast cancer.
And in recent days surrounding the release of Lossology 101, I performed a funeral for a family matriarch of the Greatest Generation, a close college buddy lost his dad, Jessica lost her mentor/voice teacher from a brain aneurysm, a longtime friend lost his wife suddenly to complications from the flu/pneumonia, Jessica and I lost a dear friend with whom we shared the cancer journey. Plus, our nation mourned the passing of a hero of war and the Queen of Soul.
Loss is one of those things that was, is, and is to come. It’s all around us. Sadly, some of our nation’s worst days of loss come from the adolescent world with school shootings. The availability of Lossology 101 seems timely, and the subject of suffering seems under-served in youth ministry. I would count it a privilege to come alongside your ministry on this sacred subject and I invite you to get acquainted with the study. The link below will take you to a page of video intros, a free sample session, and a 15% discount.
Get acquainted with Lossology 101 here!
Order Lossology 101 here! (15% discount!)
