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| When All Hope is Lost....There Remains "Good News" |
Then came this news report yesterday: "After the worst single incident in 10 years of war in Afghanistan, some justice has been dealt. An air strike by NATO-led forces in Afghanistan killed Taliban fighters, including local leader Mullah Mohibullah, who were responsible for last weekend's helicopter crash that killed 38 troops. The military reportedly tracked the Taliban fighters for several days after the helicopter was downed".
The story suggested "some justice" had been dealt. That's debatable. I have to ask this.... Why were the lives risked of the 38 on board the Chinook helicopter when they could have used an air strike to begin with? Weren't they tracking these insurgents beforehand? There is some news here....but frankly, I'm left with more questions than answers. If you are a relative of one of those killed, is that GOOD news? Imagine being a loved one of those 38. Picture yourself having escaped, so to speak, to a quiet, remote area in the United States to reflect on life and death and everything in between. And this happens.......
The gray-haired man sat quietly fishing off the dock at a small Minnesota lake on a cloudy August afternoon. We exchanged greetings. I would have moved on had he not spoken softly, "I come here to think about the Bible, God's Word".
I felt drawn to talk with him, and I learned he had been an officer in the South Vietnamese army during the Vietnam War. Twice he'd been injured by land mines. Fragments of shrapnel in his arm still caused him pain.
At war's end, he was thrown in jail by the North Vietnamese regime. He endured horrendous conditions for ten years. Often there was no food or medicine. Many of his fellow prisoners died.
Upon his release, he returned home to what little family he had left. He felt empty inside and without hope. Then he read two words on a sign displayed outside a church--"Good News". He didn't know what the Good News was, but he knew that he needed it.
He went alone to the church the next Sunday and heard the good news of Jesus Christ. The faith he found that day eventually led him to a pastor in a Vietnamese congregation in the United States.
I'd walked out on the dock that day feeling alone and discouraged. God used a fisherman to remind me that the Good News is never old news.
Jesus, no matter what other news clutters our day, it's always a Good News day with you".
-taken from Daily Guideposts for Military Families.
Looking for some Good News are you? Then look no further. The answers, the direction, the reason for Hope despite all the BAD NEWS there is, lies in God's Word. Search the Bible for your answers. There you will find one amazing story after another, much like this.....
"When he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door; and he was speaking the word to them. Then some people came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven." Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, "Why does this fellow speak in this way? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?" At once Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were discussing these questions among themselves; and he said to them, "Why do you raise such questions in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Stand up and take your mat and walk'? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins"--he said to the paralytic-- "I say to you, stand up, take your mat and go to your home." And he stood up, and immediately took the mat and went out before all of them; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!"-Mark 2:1-12
YGG,
John
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