Skip to main content

The news is good, pt. 2

By saying that if I know God, then all the news is good does not deny the existence of my pain, suffering, loneliness, fears, and so forth. I am not viewing the world and my experiences through the lenses of foolish rose-colored glasses that deny the reality of pain and suffering in the world. Nor am I some wide-eyed optimist quoting appropriate scripture inappropriately at inopportune times ("Well you know, God works all things to the good of those who love him!").

By saying that when I know the Lord and walk in His ways then the news is always good, I am saying that my experience with God is better by far than all the pain I have had to endure and all the good things I think I have missed out on in life. I have God, and that is more than enough.

To say that means I am standing on something deeper and more solid than the experiences of this life alone. I am taking hold of a timeless truth and allowing it to shape the way I view this world and all that happens to me. God is good, always acting in my long-term best interests. That truth will never change, so I must live in it and allow God to have His way with me. I have placed my faith in God - in who He is, believing His actions always reflect who He is, and He is good, full of grace, love and mercy (and, by the way, full of justice, truth, holiness, and righteousness, lest we forget).

I never want my wounds, fears, regrets and anxieties to reveal that I have more faith in them than I do in God. If that were the case, could I really say that I have known God?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Her Own Woman

Kathryn is here now. She was born Sunday night, 5:57 p.m., and weighed 7 pounds, 10 oz., and measured 20.25 inches long. Kim was in labor since about 9:00 a.m. Saturday. After hours of waiting and miles of walking around that hospital, Kim never progressed beyond 6 cm. Every time we came close to making a decision about what to do next, it seems Kathryn would change the game on us and we would have to wait for another couple of hours to see what would happen next. We almost went to the OR at least twice before we finally did because Kathry would do this or that. She was letting us know she was in charge. After whe was born I stood with her in the nursery while they cleaned her up and checked her out. She cried for a while and then got real calm and collected. I watched her as she sized me up with her eyes, took a good look around the room, and then looked at me and kind of smirked knowingly. I got the distinct impression that she was very much amused by everything that had gone on the
7 comments
Read more

Racing with Horses, Walking on Water, and Accepting My Weakness

I am tired of Hurricane Harvey. I am ready for all of this to be done and for things to settle down. I long for the routine, familiar, and predictable. I have had enough of trying to limit or mitigate the effects of Harvey on my family and property. I have become worn out trying to control and make sense of how my church is recovering from the hurricane. I am just about through with the ongoing, and seemingly never ending, management issues related to hundreds of volunteers funneling through my church on a weekly basis to assist our community in the recovery efforts. The logistics of making it all work week in and week out, the delicate dance of being the pastor to all the personalities involved, is exhausting. Add to this my broken heart for our community. I receive gut punches every day as I listen to the stories of evacuation, recovery, and rebuild. I steel myself to being able to do what I can each week and letting everything else go. I am sick of people saying the Lord will
3 comments
Read more

A Eulogy for Dan Smith

One of my oldest and closest friends, Dan Smith, has lost his battle with cancer, but is now experiencing victory over death in the presence of the Lord. I am feeling so much as I write these words, but I want to capture some of what he meant to me…what he still means to me. I met Dan in August of 1989, the Fall Semester of our freshman year at Howard Payne University. We were both outsiders, of sorts, who were thrown together in one of those “get to know you” small groups they put you in at college boot camps. For some reason we clicked, and became pretty close very quickly. It must have been Dan’s cool Tom Selleck mustache. I couldn’t grow a mustache. For about two years we remained inseparable. Dan Smith taught me how to live in Christ. When I met Dan I was at a sort of crossroads in my life. I spent most of my teenage years as a juvenile delinquent, running from the Lord. By the time I wandered in to Brownwood to go to college I had stopped running and surrendered my life to Christ
1 comment
Read more