Wednesday, February 27, 2008

A fallen tree and a risen awareness

So today I found out that a tree fell on the house of some of my best friends back home in Atlanta yesterday. It was about 6:30 in the morning. My friend Andrew was getting ready for work when he heard a what sounded like "a train hitting the house". The tree, a sixty year old pine, fell onto the next room over. The room belonged to another good friend of mine, Andy Rocker. The tree, about two feet in diameter, stopped about a foot and a half above Andy's legs. A little bit further and Andy would be in a wheelchair for life.....at best. I get a little choked up just thinking about what could have been.

I can't help but see the hand of the Lord in such events. As I wrote about in my last post, God uses "bad" events in our lives all the time to purify us and to bring us closer to Him. He also uses these events to keep us on our feet! We never know what's coming next in life.

James puts it this way:

"Now listen, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.' Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, 'If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.'" -James 4:13-15 (NIV)

Now, the context of the verse is referring to the way in which people were boasting about what they would do next. But it still stands that, "you do not even know what will happen tomorrow." You don't have to tell Andrew and Andy that twice.

You can read Andrew's account by clicking here. He has a link to some pictures of their house in his blog.

And here is Andy's account with some more pictures.

I'm so thankful that God saw fit to spare my friend Andy. I'm even thankful that God chooses to keep us on our feet--to keep us aware of our daily dependance on Him.

Monday, February 25, 2008

The Good Bad Times

A couple weeks ago, I thought I was entering a season of "good times". You know how sometimes everything just seems to be going right in life? That's how I felt. I won't go into specifics, but I had plenty to be satisfied with and excited about. However, things have taken a little bit of a turn. Again, I won't go into specifics, but there have been a few circumstances which have left me feeing a little hurt and down.

This passage has been running through my head today:

"In the day of prosperity be happy, But in the day of adversity consider-- God has made the one as well as the other so that man will not discover anything that will be after him." -Ecclesiastes 7:14

As I was thinking about this verse earlier in the day, my thoughts were focused on the concept that God creates the bad times in our lives to purify us. I have always loved the visual of a flame drawing out the dross in a piece of metal such as gold. The analogy of course is that God uses pain and suffering in our lives to produce purity. But I don't think that that's what this verse is getting at. This verse states that the reason we have series of good and bad times in our lives is so that we won't know the future. Basically, we don't know whether good or bad is coming next. I suppose this keeps us on our spiritual toes--a good thing for people who get lazy and complacent easily.

Another verse that has been running through my head is this:

"And we know that in all things, God is working for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose." -Romans 8:28

This verse closer embodies the theme of this blog. I know that God is using all circumstances in my life--especially the difficult ones--for my good. To purify me. So really, how can I call these times "bad times"? They are The Good Bad Times. Not that I am rejoicing in them, but I can still have an underlying satisfaction in my life knowing that He is working all things for my benefit.