Dr. Jim Dennison was heartbroken and yet surprising when media reported tragic news that Camp Mystic director Dick Eastland had died trying to save a child amid the devastating flood of the Guadalupe River.
“Dick Eastland was a friend,” he said. “He and (his wife) Tweety have been with me twice in Israel. I don’t know anyone more elegant and humble, servant-like.”
Dennison detailed how Eastland served others on Israeli expeditions, saying that he was the first person to arrive on the bus, that everyone had loaded with luggage, and that certain people often waited after they safely reached the room.
“That was who he was,” Dennison said. “He was known to be the grandfather of the camp, that is, generations. … They took over Camp Mystic in 1974, and he and Tweety gave it life.”
He continued, “So, in a way, when I said he died trying to save some of the campers, I wasn’t surprised. That’s who he was.”
Dennison said Eastland is simply the type of person who runs to fire to try and rescue others, saying, “That’s exactly how he was wired.” He said it was the exact same passion that led Eastland and his wife to take over the Texas-based camp decades ago.
“You want to live so that when you act heroically, people aren’t surprised. When you act in faith, people say that who you are,” Dennison said. “I think that’s a lesson that Dick still teaches today: being the kind of people who expect others to stand up to the crisis, step into faith and demonstrate the grace of Christ.”
Though at least 100 people have died or are generally missing in the area, in the wake of a natural disaster that killed at least 27 camp mystical campers and counselors, and at least 100 people have died or gone missing overall, Dennison, like many, is forced to ask some of the difficult theological questions surrounding such tragic horrors.
Lord: Why did the good and loving God make this happen, and why did he not stop it?
“This is very close to me,” Dennison said. “This is personal to me. …My background is philosophy. I spend a lot of time thinking about my suffering from evil and academic perspectives.”
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He continued, “For me, it’s not just an intellectual, or even a professional issue. It becomes a very personal issue.”
But while doubt and doubt is natural during difficult times, Dennison urged people to remember what CS Lewis said after his wife died of cancer.
“He said his fear wasn’t about stopping to believe in God,” Dennison said. “The fear was that he would come to say, ‘OK, this is really God’. ”
This attitude can lead people to attribute negative qualities to God and to retain false understandings.
“We all ask questions and we should,” Dennison said, “Why.” “The wrong approach is to take the off-ramp saying, ‘OK, he doesn’t love everything. He’s not all strong. He doesn’t know everything.’ ”
He said, “First, I cannot understand God. My heart has collapsed in finite. First graders cannot understand calculations. …It is Isaiah 55.
Dennison said it is important to remember that the Lord “has a big picture in mind,” and that he also remembers redeeming everything that unfolds. Instead of running away from God in times of crisis, he encouraged people to run primarily.
“We bring him questions,” he said. “We ask him our difficult questions and ask him to redeem this through our lives and our lives.”
Dennison said it’s also important to find ways to help herself. It often sparks by being Jesus’ hands and feet.
“One of the best ways to experience God’s peace is to share God’s peace,” Dennison said. “One of the best ways to experience his existence is to reveal his presence… and even when I’m hurt, I can say, “Lord, lead me to someone else who’s hurt like me.” ”
But in the end, it all sums up in asking difficult questions and recognizing that these situations and that mourning and pain are not simple matters. They are complex dynamics that should be treated like that.
Dennison recalls talking at a series of university chapel events a few years ago. A few days before he arrived, four students were killed and the community was in mourning.
“The person on the campus who introduced me in the midst of this horrific crisis… said something I’ve never forgotten,” Dennison said. “He said, “If someone answers simply today, run faster. Run faster. Don’t pay attention. There’s no easy answer to this.”
He argued that it is important to address complexity.
Dennison also offers advice to those struggling in their suffering to understand the seemingly pointlessness, pointing to the declaration of Christ himself on the cross.
“The first thing you do is to acknowledge it, to know that it’s there,” he said of the struggle and doubt. “Donation and asking questions is not a lack of faith. If Jesus can weep from the cross, we can ask it too. It’s an expression of faith.”
He added that it is essential to look to the Bible to express through prayer that he does not understand why something happened. Take a look at his full theological discussion on this issue.
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