seeing things as they are

I was talking to one of the BB guys tonight and during the conversaton he said "I don't get it how you can have a bad week, bad day maybe, but a week?". Well I must admit my first thought was, lucky you mate, the joy of being young. But thankfully I respect teenagers and what they say and thought some more before talking.

Cos the thing is, in some ways he was right.

When I think back on my "bad weeks" I rekon the causes boil down to - doing the wrong thing; not doing what God has clearly told me to do; looking at the bad and forgetting the good; letting the things I do not have overwhelme the things I do.

In the end it's all about focus. If you look at this world and the things that happen - it sucks. I can not imagine any other conclusion to reach. Just now CNN is running tape of a bombing in jakarta, BBC world news has images of fighting in Iraq, google news has stories about deaths in Liberia. About 3000 children died today due to poor hygene. I have a mate with a disease which will mean his final days may come a lot sooner and be just horrible. About 5 men in australia committed sucicide today. Who knows how many people starved, were taking into slavery, murdered, abused - this world sucks.

And if that was all it was - then you would be right - but that is not the whole story - it's like those 3D Magic Eye Puzzle things, you know you squint and squint and squint and you just can't see it. The way you do those is to focus through and past it. looking beyond the surface lets you see what is really there. The harder you stare at the picture before you, the less sense it makes.

This world is the same, when you take God out of the equation of this world - it makes no sense. It sucks. No matter how hard you stare at this world you don't see the full picture - you have to look through the things in front of us, looking up and out of the things that suck in this world, and into the heart of God.

When you look into that heart you see a God who loves, forgives and offers a way back to him.
When you look into the heart of God you see a God who wants what is best for you.
When you look into the heart of God you see that you are loved, loved by the one who made and keeps this world going, who will deal with the evil in this world in His time and in the most ultimate and final way possible.

And you know how I know that, cos God sent His son to die for me - to die for everyone who rebelled against Him. It happened, it's true, He died and rose again to bring me back into a relationship with God and to give me a second chance and a hope that is alive and real.

When I do not look to God - life sucks and is without Hope and reason.
But when I do look to God - life, no matter what it brings, it may hurt me more than I could imagine, but the peace in my heart makes me able to have Hope and see reason.

There is only one way for you to know if what I say if true - try it for yourself.