Why do the righteous suffer?

I want to send out some admiration and support for a former colleague who was a victim of a violent crime this past week.

Mike Duggan has been a Legal Aid lawyer, a public defender, and a private practitioner. He is an evangelical Christian, one of the most fundamentally humane humans I've ever worked with. Mike truly is a gentleman, that is, a gentle man. We all marvelled at how selflessly he loved his clients, extending every bit of care and hospitality for them, even to the point of taking them in and giving them a place to stay. As the news story said, It was Michael’s dream to open his home...and turn it into a place where young Christians could live together.

After lawyering for years, Mike went to divinity school, and I don't know any lawyer who's done a better job of trying to lead a Christ-like life, or of ministering by his own example.

So why should this happen to such a decent man?

It was last Friday and Glenda and Michael Duggan were getting ready for work, when they say the man they had rented a room to - entered their home. The victims say he attacked Glenda first with a bat, then an ax. But she was saved when her husband pulled the man away.

Both Glenda and Michael said they never saw this coming. They were scared of Paul Cardinale and that's why they asked him to move out of their home, but they never imagined he would return with a vengeance.

The couple was left with cuts, scratches, and bruises as well as a burnt house. Police say Cardinale set the home on fire then slit his throat with the butcher knife and drank some kerosene. He still remains hospitalized.

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