Nicole Brown Simpson, Ron Goldman, and my father's death.

Trusting God when we don't understand.

Wednesday marked the 25th anniversary of the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.

Their families are focusing less on O.J. Simpson than on their grief for those they lost. In other news,

we are learning more about the woman who was killed when a crane collapsed on her apartment

building in Dallas, Texas. Last Sunday, Kirsten Smith was a graduate of Southern New Hampshire

University and had recently been promoted to a new position in tenant health care.

She was engaged to be married this September.

Her family describes her as a selfless, thoughtful, and loving daughter, sister, fiance, and friend to many.

Further north, two men died while competing in an Ironman triathlon in Madison, Wisconsin over the weekend.

Meanwhile, the Associated Press is reporting that the Islamic State has expanded its reach in Afghanistan and is plotting attacks against the U.S. and other Western countries.

And news that the suicide rate in the U.S. is at an all-time high continues to trouble me.

I had a good friend in high school who hung himself. I'm sure his family is still marked by his death.

It's hard to imagine the suffering so many families are facing today. It's been said that God has

only three answers to prayer. Yes, not yet, and I have something better in

mind. If he does not meet a need as I wish him to, I can conclude that he has something

better for me instead. But what do we do when the something better seems so awful? Every time I

return to Israel, I am reminded that the Holocaust is a present tense reality

for millions of Jews who still grieve for their family members they lost. After John

Stewart's impassioned testimony, the House Judiciary Committee unanimously passed a bill this

week, providing funds for 9-11 first responders and other victims.

My father would have been 95 years old yesterday.

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