Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

In our modern world with information flowing at the speed of light, we are constantly having bad news thrown at us.  If we only paid attention to that, it would appear that nothing good is happening.  But the truth is, there are some very good things going on in our world and we need to give good news all the attention that it deserves.  Last week brought something good my way—two of our little girls celebrated birthdays!  Madeline turned twelve and Addy ten.  It was an exciting day for both of them as they experienced the joy of moving further along the journey to growing into young ladies.  As I think back to the first time I saw each of those girls—in all their beauty and perfection—so many things have happened in the past decade.  Thankfully, God has been in control of their lives and everything else all along the way.

Even though both of those young ladies are in the early years of their lives, they have already had a few struggles along the way and there will certainly be more.  Yet in the midst of struggles—whether early in life or toward the end—we need to constantly remember that the life of faith in God is always worth living.  It is worth the struggles that we face; in the midst of struggles is where our faith has the opportunity to grow the strongest and where we experience some of God’s greatest blessings.  The writer of the Book of Hebrews reminds us very clearly that we must press on no matter what we face:  “You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised” (10:36, New International Version).

It is absolutely an understatement to say that sometimes things just don’t go as planned.  I will always remember what a wise old man told me about that:  “When things don’t go as planned, just adjust.” 

That brings to mind a recent event in which what I thought would be a most simple and straightforward procedure did not go as smoothly as I expected.  After having considerable dissatisfaction with an internet service that I have subscribed to for the past several years, I decided to switch back to a company that I used about ten years ago.  I expected a quick reconnect of the existing wiring and everything would be all set.  When the installer arrived, I could tell that things were not quite so simple when he told me that there would be some wire on top of the ground until they get it buried in a couple of weeks.  Before he left I decided that I had best see what he meant by “wire being on top of the ground”.  To my amazement, there was a long stretch of telephone cable extending across my yard, down the road, and across the yards and driveways of two of my neighbors!  He quickly noted that I had concerns about what I was seeing, so he asked me if I was alright with it.  Needless to say, I was not alright.  How long do you suppose it would take for one of us to get the lawn mower tangled up with such a mess of wire?  Looks like I will have to make some adjustments on this one!

Madeline and Addy are excited about their birthdays and the joy of growing up.  I’m excited along with them, but I also know that there will surely be some struggles along life’s way that will require some serious adjustments.  But they can rest assured that even in the most serious struggles of life, if they will keep faith in God, He will see them through and point them to the necessary adjustments that will lead to a fulfilling life.  That is true for us all.  The Bible assures us that “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him” (James 1:12).