Recovery efforts suspended for freshman Sheri Booth

Walla Walla University has been deeply saddened by the loss of Shari Booth, a freshman biology major.

On Monday, May 19, WWU freshman Shari Booth was reported missing after a dive with her Advanced SCUBA class. Searchers suspended recovery efforts on Tuesday evening.

She sat there in her freshman Bible class and wept. The Bible teacher had just insisted that whatever occurs is God’s will. Glory comes to God through whatever happens, even evil. She wept because her mother had brain cancer. A world where God willed such things for his glory, for the purpose of exalting his own name, perplexed and eluded her. My daughter, a classmate, came home bewildered. This kind of a God troubled her as well. As she understood God, he does not act this way.

Suffering is a funny thing. It may sound strange to use the word funny as an adjective to describe suffering. Actually, the two words are oxymoronic! Suffering is often coupled with words like hard, painful, and difficult. The concept of suffering is totally contradictory to the first law of nature: self-preservation. No, funny is not a word that generally comes to mind when we think of suffering. However, I would like to offer a perspective that will, indeed, support the use of these two words in the same vein.