I went running today and kind of accidentally stepped on a bug. I say ‘kind of’ because it happened fast and I didn’t try that hard to avoid him.
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And that hit the realization home that unfair stuff just happens in this world. He didn’t deserve it, but it’s part of how the world just works. Sometimes we just don’t realize the gravity of what we do, we aren’t very careful with others, and someone gets hurt or… stepped on.
What if he called God unfair and required God to repair his little body in order to still believe in Him. Man, what would the world look like if every bug or leaf or bacteria that got chumped asked God, “How can you be a loving God and let this happen!? I’m done with You unless you fix me!”
So, thinking about this poor bug and what he had no idea was coming to him, I think about if I were hit by a car. Or mugged on the streets and it paralyzed me. Or even born with some birth defect because of Aspartame in the womb or something. I wonder if asking, “How can God be a good God with such injustices in the world” is the less beneficial question to dwell on. I know it’s a big leap to say crunching a bug’s exoskeleton is like breaking my back, but maybe it reveals the rules that guide this world, and helps put in perspective what choices are on our plate.
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So maybe if we could adopt the perspective that even though sometimes bad stuff happens, when the grief settles we can start to focus on how best to react instead of saying God must not be good. What opportunity is it giving us? How can we love despite it, and live a greater story by attempting to see the doors that might be opening because of our misfortunes. That seems like a more inspiring way to live anyway.
If a very capable person runs a marathon, no big news. If someone who was paralyzed in a car accident completes a marathon in his wheelchair, that’s bound to make the nightly news (and just think, you could coast the downhill parts.)
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Raw Spoon, 6-29-15
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