On Monday, the cop who shot and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri was cleared of all charges. Officer Darren Wilson claims he shot Brown in self defense because Brown was the first aggressor, in accordance with Missouri law. Since then, protesters who don’t think Brown’s killing was justified have taken to the streets of Ferguson and 170 other U.S. cities, demanding justice in the form of an overturning of the verdict. Internationally, protests have occurred in Canada, and hundreds turned out today in London -- starting outside the U.S. Embassy before spreading elsewhere in the city.

Braving the London cold and drizzle, protestors waved placards that read "Black Lives Matter" and held candles in Grosvenor Square. Carole Duggan, the featured speaker at the London rally, is well-acquainted with this kind of tragedy. Her nephew Mark was shot dead by police in 2011, sparking days of riots in London and other cities across England.

If we think back to the days of Jim Crow, a boy who was just four years younger than Brown was tortured and murdered for doing something far more innocent. He was ostensibly whistling at a white woman in 1955 Mississippi. Last Monday, a sycamore tree was planted in the White House garden in memory of the boy who lost his life at the hands of brutal racists in the South. He was the only child of Manie and Louis Till.

And what of the individuals who did nothing to deserve such a loss?

Just a few short weeks ago, the noted evangelist Myles Munroe departed from us via a horrific plane crash.

Upcoming is the movie, The theory of everything,  which is the autobiography of the brilliant scientist, Stephen Hawking who is stricken by disease, confined to a wheelchair, unable to use his limbs and communicates using a voice synthesizer.

Kent Bell, age 49, who resides in Jacksonville, Fl. was born without any limbs, is presently struggling with kidney problems as he tries to lead a normal life.

The day we were evicted out of the Garden of Eden we became acquainted with and had to make accommodations for losing.

From that day forward, we were to learn the hard lessons of the loss of relationships, loss of possessions, loss of status, loss of jobs, loss of our health, loss of loved ones and the loss of our lives.

Like a runaway freight train it barges into our lives always uninvited, unexpected and inconvenient. It disrupts our existence with no regard for our state of mind, emotional well-being or capacity to handle such an upheaval.

In recent years, millions have lost their homes to foreclosure whilst others have seen their pensions and life savings vanish due to corrupt 

financial practices of Enron and Madoff investments.

Losing being a certainty of , the only question that remains is how to withstand it.

It has become the ultimate grindstone of life. It could grind you down into the dust or polish you up so that you shine like a diamond in the world.

It can make you bitter or better.

You could continue to bemoan what you have lost or be glad for what you have left.

You will discover there is no neutrality after an interaction with it. No sitting on the fence or indecision after it has passed your way.

Just ask Corrie ten Boom, Otto Frank,  Elie Wiesel, Nelson Mandela, the mothers of Newtown, Mass or the mothers against drunk driving.

Once its cold, unfeeling hand touches you, if you are ever going to experience a reasonably happy and sane existence thereafter, you must come to grips with losing or you will be overwhelmed. How do you continue after your heart, soul and all your energies which are focused on someone or something results in all your hopes and dreams being cruelly crushed?  Do you give up, cash in all your chips and exit the game? Where do you find the strength when the bottom drops out to pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start over again?

After you realize:

People fail and mess up.

It is not going to work out.

You will fall short of the goal.

All your efforts will come to naught.

The disheartening, disappointing, gut-wrenching emotion can swallow you up or pulverize you into powder. The fallout may leave you, for all intents and purposes –dead--a chaff before the prevailing winds of life.

Think about the poignant picture of Lolo Jones at the 2008 Olympics, one hurdle before the finish line and victory. A thoroughly distraught young woman tearfully pounding the pavement of the track in utter shock, disbelief and bitter profound disappointment.

Losing has that kind of effect on people.

The world loves and celebrates a winner but losers are forgotten and consigned to the trash heap of life.

Yet without losing you will never know winning and you can never appreciate up, if there is no down.

How do we cope?

To prevent losing or to numb the effects thereof we take steroids to give us an edge like Lance Armstrong and Alex Rodriguez or we resort to drugs and alcohol abuse.

In extreme cases, we kill our family members and commit suicide.

This present world, influenced by the evil one, is designed around the concept of loss and everyone must confront it sooner or later.

Make sure it does not take you out.

The only sure remedy for its debilitating effects is a sincere relationship with the Prince of Peace. He promises to keep you in perfect peace as your mind is stayed upon him. He assured us that he will walk with us through this vale of tears and the valley of the shadow of death.

He warned us that a man’s enemies will be those of his own household and in this life you will face trials and tribulations. On the way to the cross, he cautioned the wailing women who expressed sympathy for his ordeal: “Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and your children. For the day will come when they shall say blessed are the wombs that did not bear or the paps that never gave suck for if they do these things when the tree is green what shall they do when it is dry.”

Get used to it.

Your success or failure depends on it.

Losing is a way of life.

However, in all the losing make sure you do not lose your hold on eternal Life.

This world is unkind, unjust, unfair and unforgiving but with steely resolve you must determine like the Apostle Paul, “Indeed I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ.”  - Phil. 3: 8.

If you release your grip on him, then you really would have lost everything!