The Good and Beautiful God

I'm so annoyed.  I got a $25 Walmart gift card in the mail last night from my credit card rewards points and after meeting Jess for dinner I headed over there quick to pick up some things.  I usually go to Kroger, but I figured I would go to Walmart and stock up on all the things I haven't wanted to buy.  Of course I got to the register and FORGOT to use my gift card!  Ugh... I was so annoyed with myself.  I mean, yeah, I still have it to use another time.. it's not the end of the world.  But the whole intent of that trip was to get free stuff!

In other news... I'm really enjoying this book that our pastor encouraged us to read.  It is called, "The Good and Beautiful God."  I have only read 2 chapters, but I like it.  The author starts out by explaining how we each have different 'narratives' which have inevitably shaped how we view things, think things, react to things, etc.  We were either taught specific things, or picked up on ideas through TV, school, friends... and were never taught opposing views, so we believe what we picked up on.  For example, my pastor's wife grew up not being allowed to go to the movies.  One day she went and came home with an awful stomach ache.  Her dad said, 'that is why we don't go to movies, that is what happens.'  The author wants us to think back on all the little 'narratives' like that, that we have been taught and hold them up to what Jesus taught.  In the example with my pastor's wife, she knows now that going to movies isn't wrong, and that you don't get a stomach ache from going to the movies... but since she had been taught that, she had to work really hard to 'kill' that thought process because it altered her perception of God.  She was being taught to know this God who was a judge, who would get angry and anything you did wrong, rather than being taught that she is loved unconditionally by this God who wants her to enjoy Him and His mercy.  That is what the author is getting at, that we really work hard to realize what we believe, what shapes our actions, and see if it's really true or not.

The second chapter in the book talks specifically about our view on evil things happening to good people/good things happening to evil people.  The author was in a situation a while ago, where his daughter was born with a disease where she wouldn't live long.  He sat down one day with a pastor friend of his who asked him, 'so who sinned?  You or your wife?'  That caused him to question his wife, wonder what she had done to make their daughter deserve this fate.  He struggled with that for a while until he realized the truth; God doesn't work like that.  Referring to a blind man, Jesus was once asked who had sinned, the blind man or his parents?  Jesus replied that neither had sinned, that he was given blindness so that God may be glorified.  Isn't that awesome!?  Jesus healed him right there.  The man hadn't sinned, his parents hadn't sinned to bring this blindness on him... God had a plan. So when bad things keep happening to someone, do I sometimes wonder what they are doing wrong?  Yes, I sometimes do.  Now, obviously there are immediate consequences for people making wrong choices sometimes... but that's not what he's talking about exactly.  There are other examples in scripture that give me a more accurate picture of God view on this situation, and this is definitely something that I'll have to work on.  It's like superstitions.  You KNOW if you step on a crack, you mom's back isn't going to break, but you still think about it.  I really do want to realize the 'narratives' in my life and compare them to what Jesus teaches and completely toss out the ones that are false.  I pray that I will be able to do that.