"BAD vs. GOOD!"

As many know, at the fellowship I attend we have been reading a book titled CLASSIC CHRISTIANITY this summer.  There are two stories in the latter chapters I am led to share over the next couple of days.  I pray they minister to you, as they have to me.  

"Why would GOD tell us to give HIM thanks in all circumstances, even in bad ones?  Because giving thanks is a concrete expression of our faith in GOD---that our lives are in HIS hands, and that we are trusting HIM to fulfill HIS promise on Romans 8:28 "And we know that in all things GOD works for the good of those who love HIM, who have been called according to HIS purpose."  The result if trusting GOD with our lives and expressing that faith through giving thanks is a freedom and peace that is supernatural. 

Philippians 4:6-7  "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to GOD.  And the peace of GOD, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  

The greatest example I have witnessed of this truth in action was the story of a young couple named Reed and Marian.  Reed was one of several fathers taking a girls' group on a camping trip to Oklahoma.  Before leaving their home in Dallas, their six-year-old daughter , Wendy, came up and asked, "Mommy, is it okay if I ride in the other car with my friend? She doesn't have anybody to ride with."  Marian said it was fine, and the group set out.  It was raining and the streets were slick.  Before the group had gotten far, the driver of the car in which Wendy was riding lost control.  He tried to bring the vehicle back, but the trailer they were hauling fishtailed.  Miraculously, in a chain-reaction accident that eventually totalled 26 cars, the most serious injury was a broken arm to one of the girls---that is, except for Wendy.  Wendy was thrown out of the car and was instantly killed. 

Just a few weeks later, I was riding with Reed in a funeral limousine.  This time, he was a pallbearer for one of his closest friends, Steve, who had died of cancer at the age of 32.  Surprisingly though, Reed was his usual, soft-spoken smiling self, even though his eyes were teary.  In spite of everything, he seemed to be doing very well.  

"Well, Reed," I said gently, "I suppose you have had enough of this to last you for a while."  

He smiled and said, "That's for sure."  

"Tell me," I asked.  "How are you holding up? How have you learned to deal with the loss of Wendy?"  

"Let me tell you about that," he said.  "Marian and I look at it this way.  What if GOD had come to us six years ago and made us an offer. 'Reed and Marian, I have a little girl, a daughter of Mine, named Wendy.  Now she's only going to be on earth for six years.  But I need someone who will love her, look after her, and teach her about ME for those six years.  Then I am going to take her home to Me. So I wonder: Would you like Me to give her to you, realizing that those are the conditions?'  Marian and I would have both said, 'Oh yes, LORD. Give her to us!"

"And that's just what we feel that GOD has done.  We have chosen to be thankful for every one of those six years that Wendy enriched our lives.  We miss her terribly.  We've cried, and we'll cry more tears.  But we know we will see her again, and we thank GOD for it all."

Bishop Robert E. Smith once told me "Writing helps crystallize my thoughts and enables me to better articulate my deductions."  Typing this out has made me slow my thought process to a point I can absorb what is being said.  I challenge you to "SEE" what it is that GOD is saying to you today!