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"GOOD PEOPLE HAPPEN TO BAD THINGS!"
As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 147.
I often hear the question asked, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" What a terrible question to try and answer. Frankly, I've given up on trying to come up with some life changing, God fearing and thought provoking answer. I simply don't believe there is an answer that gives any justice to the depth and importance of this often asked question.
I remember talking with a crew of men at my house working to plant a few trees in my yard. I had just had an encounter with God the evening before regarding the power of connection even in the mundane things of life. It doesn't get much more mundane than being stuck at home waiting on some people to arrive to plant a few trees. Not a lot of world impact in that endeavor - or so I thought.
I had decided that I was going to just be content with what God had planned for me that day, even if His plans looked to be pretty boring from where I was sitting. When the guys finally arrived to do their work I went outside to meet them. They were five of them there. Two of the guys took an interest in a car I'm working on. We spent a few minutes checking out what I have been doing. We traded a few stories about our past auto adventures. Hey, if nothing else, I experienced a good few moments talking with another couple of car nuts. Not a bad day after all. God had so much more in mind.
As the three of us stood there talking about cars, I noticed one of the workers who walked past me. He had on a hoodie and honestly, he looked like he had had a pretty rough night the evening before. By his looks, I immediately jumped to the conclusion that he must be nursing a pretty challenging hangover. Been there, done that. Something just drew me to this guy, but he wasn't interested or maybe wasn't able to carry on a conversation at that time. I just went on with my day.
When the guys were about finished planting my trees, the foreman asked for me to sit with him and go over the paperwork. He looked at me and out of the blue said, "It would be really nice if you would say something to the guys today. You see, one of our team mates was recently killed in a motorcycle accident and the guys are taking it really hard."
Honestly, I was kind of taken aback. Who am I to speak to these guys about something so personal as losing a friend and coworker so tragically? What can I say to help console a bunch of grown men, hurting over losing a 21 year old friend like that? I was actually a bit angered that this guy would put me on the spot like that. It was as though this guys was asking me to answer the question - "Why does bad thinks happen to good people?" Who does this guy think I am?
If it isn't obvious by what I just said, I have to admit that I was more than a little anxious about what this guy was asking of me. Then it hit me, God had said that He was in the mundane. My day had been all about mundane so I just believed that God was going to be there and do something. We walked around the corner of the house where the guys were finishing up their work. I walked up to the group and said, "I heard about your friend - I'm really sorry you guys have to deal with such a tragedy." Pretty deep words - right?
Then something really amazing happened. The guy in the hoodie - the one I had written off as being a little hung over - looked straight at me and said, "You should have known him. He was a great guy. Why is it always the good ones that are taken so soon?" By what I can only chalk up to divine inspiration, I immediately knew what to say. I stared straight at my hoodied friend and said with confidence and authority, "I know what you mean. The bad ones, like you and like me always seem to get left behind." Our eyes locked for a few seconds as we connected on a level that was truly miraculous. The guy in the hoodie smiled and said, "You are absolutely right!" and went back to work with a with a changed look on his face.
It was as though that exchange settled something for my new friend in the hoodie. I didn't have to mention God or heaven, I didn't even have to know the answer to the unanswerable question of "Why?". All I had to do is live in the power of who God made me to be and let Him be God, even in the mundane things of my life.
We are in good company when it comes to living in the mundane. Check out this description of Jesus and let's see how it relates to our seeing God's power in the mundane.
The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. Colossians 1:15-17 (NIV)
When I think of Jesus, I think of walking on water. I think of raising people from the dead. I think of changing people's lives through healing and deliverance. That doesn't sound very mundane to me. And it wasn't. But that isn't all Jesus had going on in His life. Those stories, and most of what we know about Jesus, comes from the last three years He walked this earth. Don't you know that the other 30 years of his life must have been filled with the same kinds of mundane you and I experience?
Jesus was a carpenter. I'm the grandson of a carpenter. I can't tell you how many days I spent on a roof driving nails in ways that mundane doesn't come close to describe the boredom that I experienced. Our reading today highlights the place of authority Jesus came from. This same Jesus had to find God's significance, even in the mundane, just like we do today.
Jesus knew something that I'm starting to appreciate in my life. The mundane doesn't mean that I'm missing something when it comes to who I am. God is just as present in the mundane as He is in the exciting times of life. My experience that day with my friend in the hoodie made that fact abundantly clear to me.
The mundane isn't my enemy. Being lulled to sleep to where I might miss God is the enemy that I need to vanquish from my life when life turns mundane. It would have been so easy to miss that encounter with that young man that boring day not too long ago. I'm so glad I didn't. I'm so glad God wanted me to learn something about His power in all of my life when I surrender to who He says I am. Seeing God move through me in a way to touch a hurting soul made me believe more fully in the victor God has made me to be.
Let me bring this presentation back full circle. What does all this talk on the mundane have to do with "Why do bad things happen to good people?"? I go back to the quote I started today's talk with. Bad things don't happen to good people, good people happen to bad things.
That young man's death was God using a good person to bring light into a dark world. It took a couple of "bad" people (my hoodied friend and me) touched by the loss of that good one to see the light that was shining that bright sunny day when five guys came over to plant a few trees in my yard.
Light can shine in the exciting times as well as the mundane times of life. That light shines the brightest when God's children allow Him to work fully in their lives. That work doesn't stop when things turn boring. No, that work might just kicking in in ways that we might not fully see until we cross over into the next life.
I hope I never take my mundane times for granted again like I have so many times in the past. God is there whether times are good or bad. He's also there when times are exciting and when times seem to be moving at a snail's pace. Let the light of God shine through your life. Be the good that happens in a bad situation as you live out your victor status as God's Child today.
The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. Colossians 1:15-17 (NIV)
When I think of Jesus, I think of walking on water. I think of raising people from the dead. I think of changing people's lives through healing and deliverance. That doesn't sound very mundane to me. And it wasn't. But that isn't all Jesus had going on in His life. Those stories, and most of what we know about Jesus, comes from the last three years He walked this earth. Don't you know that the other 30 years of his life must have been filled with the same kinds of mundane you and I experience?
Jesus was a carpenter. I'm the grandson of a carpenter. I can't tell you how many days I spent on a roof driving nails in ways that mundane doesn't come close to describe the boredom that I experienced. Our reading today highlights the place of authority Jesus came from. This same Jesus had to find God's significance, even in the mundane, just like we do today.
Jesus knew something that I'm starting to appreciate in my life. The mundane doesn't mean that I'm missing something when it comes to who I am. God is just as present in the mundane as He is in the exciting times of life. My experience that day with my friend in the hoodie made that fact abundantly clear to me.
The mundane isn't my enemy. Being lulled to sleep to where I might miss God is the enemy that I need to vanquish from my life when life turns mundane. It would have been so easy to miss that encounter with that young man that boring day not too long ago. I'm so glad I didn't. I'm so glad God wanted me to learn something about His power in all of my life when I surrender to who He says I am. Seeing God move through me in a way to touch a hurting soul made me believe more fully in the victor God has made me to be.
Let me bring this presentation back full circle. What does all this talk on the mundane have to do with "Why do bad things happen to good people?"? I go back to the quote I started today's talk with. Bad things don't happen to good people, good people happen to bad things.
That young man's death was God using a good person to bring light into a dark world. It took a couple of "bad" people (my hoodied friend and me) touched by the loss of that good one to see the light that was shining that bright sunny day when five guys came over to plant a few trees in my yard.
Light can shine in the exciting times as well as the mundane times of life. That light shines the brightest when God's children allow Him to work fully in their lives. That work doesn't stop when things turn boring. No, that work might just kicking in in ways that we might not fully see until we cross over into the next life.
I hope I never take my mundane times for granted again like I have so many times in the past. God is there whether times are good or bad. He's also there when times are exciting and when times seem to be moving at a snail's pace. Let the light of God shine through your life. Be the good that happens in a bad situation as you live out your victor status as God's Child today.
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