In Your Hands, by Lon Alderman

Joshua 24:15
But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."

Two boys were walking through the woods and discovered a small bird with a broken wing. The boys caught the bird and decided to use it to play a trick on one of their neighbors. As the boys made their way to the neighbors house with the bird held tightly in one of the boys hands, they made up their plan.

Upon arriving at the old man's house the boy holding the bird explained to his neighbor that he had a bird in his hands and he wanted him to guess if it was alive or dead. If the man had said that the bird was dead, then the boy would open his hands and show the man that he was wrong. However, if the man said that the bird was alive, then the boy would gently push the life out of the bird with his hands and show the man that he was wrong by displaying the dead bird. The boys were very excited because they planned to prove the old man to be wrong no matter which way the man answered.

The man was slow to answer which made the boys excitement turn to impatience. Finally, the boy holding the bird shouted out, "What's your answer old man?"

The man slowly responded, "The answer is in your hands."

Choose well!
Lon

The Perfect Storm, by Lon Alderman

Romans 8:28
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

The movie "Perfect Storm" is a dramatic portrayal of a violent and destructive natural phenomenon. A "perfect storm" is defined as:

• a particularly violent storm arising from a rare combination of adverse meteorological factors.
• a particularly bad or critical state of affairs, arising from a number of negative and unpredictable factors : the past two years have been a perfect storm for the travel industry.
  

Again, "God works through all things for the good of those who love Him..."

The challenge for us is to understand that sometimes we have to go through difficulty in order to become the men and women God desires us to be. The "storms" in our life are perfectly designed for the good of those they affect, particularly those that love God.

For example, until I had been fired from a job I had almost no empathy for people going through that crisis. Now that I've experienced being fired I have regular opportunities to encourage people as they work through this painful process.

When we find ourselves in a one of the storms of life, try to keep in mind that the storm is perfectly capable of producing "good" results in us. God is, in fact, at work for our good rain and shine!

What storms are brewing in your life?
Lon