bad news/good news: hitler, Heroes & Hope

Yesterday I received some incredibly Good News. 

Lately I have been working out early on the elliptical and am able to catch all the morning news, most times with incredibly Bad News.  

The news about Penn State and the Jerry Sandusky stuff, coupled with the massacre in Colorado are pretty depressing.  If I were really old I might say:

 “what in the cat hair is this world coming to?”

 

  To be honest with you, as I age, evil minded people are a little more scary to me.  However, evil minded people have been around for centuries.  Currently I am re- reading a set of novels set in pre- WWII  Europe.  They go into detail about Hitler’s insane rise to power, and how in 1932-1936  most neighboring countries had their heads stuck in the sand…  Until the evil showed up on their shores.

Bad News for all of them.  The Good News did not show up until  years later, after much innocent blood was shed.  

VE day, May 8, 1945 was a day my mom remembers distinctly, because soon after that, her sweetheart came home from the war.  It was Good News all around. 

 Evil had died in a bunker.

 

Most of us know the word “gospel” means the “good news”: Jesus Christ came to earth and died for our sins so we might live.  The account of His life and what He did is chronicled in the “gospels” or “Good News” of the bible in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. 

 

 A best friend of mine for years called me last week and told me that she accepted Jesus into her heart.  I was blown away, it was incredibly Good News for me.  She is currently reading the book of John learning all about the “Good News” for her personally.

But back to the Bad News.   What in heaven’s name can we do about the evil that lurk in in the corners of the world today? Sometimes when I think of the victims of the crimes I mentioned above, I am overwhelmed. 

My heart aches for them, and their families.  

 I want to do something. 

 But what?

I don’t have answers for evil that is sometimes allowed to reap havoc. On the flip side, I am grateful for heartwarming stories of heroism that always come from terrible tragedy. Out of the Colorado awfulness came four heroes that died protecting their sweethearts.

 http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/aurora-shooting-died-bullets-sweeties-article-1.1119395

I heard an interesting take this morning on the well known idea that God will NOT give you more than you can handle.  A preacher that I was listening to on the radio claimed quite the contrary:

 He said God will absolutely give you more than you can handle… the reason for that is so you will lean on Him, not yourself.  

For Comfort.

For hope during an impossible time.

 Victims and families of tragedy overwhelmingly have more than they can handle.

I pray for them.  

I pray they have hope. 

 I pray they are comforted

 

 I hope you will too.