Editor's Note: This is the fourth of a reflective series entitled "A Reckless Love."
Josh asked tough questions. I remember him asking me why I cared so much about academic achievement. He pressed me until the conversation ended in a confession of idolatry.
Undoubtedly, Josh possessed a desire to learn. To learn from the wise, about others, and the joys and simplicities of life. But learning was not an end. Rather, learning was the means by which he would be better equipped to practically live a faithful life of worship, ministry, and service to the Lord.
And there has been much learning in the past seven weeks despite questions left unanswered.
The Lord commissioned the prophet Isaiah to comfort the people of Jerusalem. Much like Job, Isaiah responds to God that the mortal suffering and warfare of life is overwhelmingly in demand of answers.
Tough question: "why God?"
If this question is not asked in good faith, I question the sincerity of humility. Nonetheless, the Lord's answer is to the question, "where?": tell the people, "Behold your God" (Isaiah 40:9).
Since the day that Josh died, many of my questions have been "why". I have chosen to acknowledge and struggle with these questions repeatedly, but I have been reminded that I must cherish and savor the Lord's faithful presence. Ultimately, His meeting with me and others in remarkable ways during the past seven weeks seems to dismiss the power of my questions. He has met me, here, in my humble brokenness and that alone appears to suffice for the inadequacies my questions propose.
Josh Larkin challenged me to live recklessly entrenched in authenticity. And sometimes that means asking tough questions. Tough questions of myself, the men I live with, my beloved friends and peers, and my Lord.
And not tough questions for the sake of questioning. But questions with answers, and other times left unanswered, that lead to the Cross, to a changed life.
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