By Edwin Arceo
WARNING: Make sure you have a box of tissues when you read this book.
Tragedies and heartaches abound around us. No one is spared from sorrow and misery. We may not be the ones directly affected but we do experience it even though we may just be sitting on the fences and observing.
Author Philip Yancey goes back to The Question that people ask in times of tragic incidents such as the December 2012 Newtown, Connecticut massacre of 20 first graders and six of their teachers and staff by a lone gunman. Or the Tsunami that hit Japan on March 2011 which took the lives of over 19,000 souls. Or the civil war in the Balkans which divided the country we knew then as Yugoslavia and killed tens of thousands of innocent people and made homeless hundreds of thousands of others.
We Filipinos are no strangers to calamities and tragedies. One will always remember typhoons Ondoy and Yolanda, two of the most devastating natural disasters to hit the Philippines.
How do you answer The Question?
Philip Yancey suggests a few answers which you will have to read for yourself. Nevertheless this question will always arise when cataclysms come, small or great.
The book is short. People with time to read will most probably finish this in a day. I read three-quarters of it during my commute to the office and every time I would come off in tears which I fail to hide every time. Aside from the fact that all the stories mentioned by Philip I am familiar with, its his form of storytelling that overflows with authenticity, accuracy and genuine compassion which turns my tear and nasal ducts on. Whew!
If you ever suffered loss and begged the question to be answered, this book is for you. For those how have not yet come to terms, the book will give you comfort and motivate you to closure. For the rest, you still need to read this book; not to prepare you for any eventuality but it provides the opportunity to see through the eyes of those who suffered the grace of and love of God towards those who are hurting.
Why? The Question that Never Goes Away is published by OMF Literature and available at popular bookstores. Read more about Philip Yancey at his website.
COMING CLEAN STATEMENT: I won this book in a giveaway that the CEO of OMF Lit held on his personal Facebook page. I promised a review for winning it and here it is. This is a personal thought of what I think of the book.
