“DNA tests confirmed that a body found off the coast of Brazil is that of a priest who disappeared while flying over the Atlantic buoyed by hundreds of brightly colored party balloons, authorities said Tuesday.
The Rev. Adelir Antonio de Carli set off from the Brazilian port city of Paranagua on April 20 strapped to 1,000 helium-filled balloons in an attempt to raise money to build a rest stop and worship center for truckers. But the 41-year-old Roman Catholic priest soon lost contact with his ground team, and the cluster of yellow, orange, pink and white balloons was found in the water a day later.” Source
This news story really makes me think. Of course I feel terribly sorry for this courageous priest and for all the people he has left behind here on earth. But was this really God’s calling on his life – to be airlifted to the heavens above by 1,000 party balloons!?
Okay, who am I to judge this poor man... It is just another tragic story, but I can’t help thinking that this was also a silly stunt and a misguided, naieve idea.
In my own country we just heard about a group of young volunteers and the tragic ordeal that they’ve been through while they were working for a Christian aid and development organization in Kenya. They came there to rebuild a school and paid for this ‘vacation’ out of their own pocket. And this is what happened to them: five young Dutch women between the ages of 17 and 25 were raped by a group of Kenyan men. Source
Now I am outraged, shocked and sad at the same time. And of course I can’t help asking myself – why on earth did God allow this to happen? That is a tough question to answer and I truly don’t know what to say. I only know that bad things happen to good people all of the time all over the world and Christians are certainly not immune to violence, crime, war, persecution, abuse and disasters. Come to think of it, Jesus – God’s Son, was not immune to violence, pain and humiliation either. He gave his life for us on that horrible cross and God didn't stop him because this was a price that needed to be paid and Jesus was the only one who was able to pay it. Can’t understand it fully, but I wholeheartedly believe it.
So God took a huge risk when He allowed his Son to go down to this dark pit we call earth. Excuse me for mixing up these tragic non-related stories, but again I have to think about the Brazilian priest who decided to go in the opposite direction. There’s nothing funny about that. It just makes me wonder what we are called to do down here on earth, how much risk we can sensibly take and which price we are prepared to pay in order to help our fellow human beings in the service of our God.
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