Location: Yad Vashem – The World Holocaust Remembrance Center

Verse: “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” – Romans 8:22 NIV

During our time in Israel, we visited the Yad Vashem – The World Holocaust Remembrance Center. As we walked through the children’s memorial, the precious names of God’s created ones were read with somber respect. The memorial was dark, and candles surrounded us as we moved through the mirrors and flickering lights – each honoring one life. There were so many valuable, defenseless little ones killed during the Holocaust that names are listed for days without repeat in the memorial center. The memorial was built by a couple living in California. The couple had a son killed in a death camp during the Holocaust when he was only four years old. Four. The architecture of the center is unfinished, purposefully, to symbolize the incompleteness of their young lives. This effect conveyed a fragmented feel, incomplete. We too live much of our lives in a fragmented state because we experience pain, loss and death. I couldn’t help but think of my young friend Kelli who recently passed away unexpectedly at twenty-five years old. There is no pat answer or easy explanation for this kind of loss. This is because God’s plan is unfinished and the earth is in a state of waiting and groaning – it’s incomplete. We have the Spirit of God, but live in a world broken by the effects of sin and decay. However, the unfinished architecture of our lives is not the end of the story. We know that we are moving forward and we are going somewhere. Instead of settling to be fragmented, we can decide to be constantly “In progress”, marching on towards wholeness as God brings His Kingdom to Earth in our hearts through His mighty Spirit. March on in confidence.