Why Do Bad Things Keep Happening?

"Carry each other's burdens, and in this way, you will fulfill the Law of Christ."  Galations 6:2

Imagine you are an 8-year-old little boy.  Last year, your stepdad was tragically killed in a car accident.  Your mom is working 12-hour shifts to try to make ends meet for your teenage sister and you.  It's a Sunday night, and your big sister is helping you get ready to go to church.  A nice man is coming by to pick you up and take you to services, and you feel somewhat excited to have a nice place to go.  Your sister and you are cooking hamburgers on the stove.

After church, the nice man drops you both off and pulls out of the driveway.  As you approach the house, your sister and you realize that the house is on fire.  In a hurry to make it to church on time, you have accidentally forgotten to turn off the stove.  Your exhausted mom makes it home from work to find your sister and you devastated on the curb, fire trucks and police in the yard, and all of you have the sick realization that your cat was inside the house.

"Mom," you ask with tears in your eyes, "why do bad things keep happening to us?"

Unfortunately, this scenario is a true story, and this tragedy played out right here in our community.  But the story doesn't end there.....

Upon hearing about this special family, the Mission Athens team went into overdrive.  Within a few days, a rental home had been secured for them.  Through a series of announcements, emails, phone calls and text messages, a full Extreme Makeover Home Edition team had been built.  In one day, the entire house was scrubbed by a team of about 10 Christians.  From the floors, to the walls, to the ceilings, to the windows, that house was sparkling in just a few hours.  The next day, another team of Christians painted the house, installed new lighting and flooring, and some very great ladies decorated the rooms so nicely that HGTV themselves couldn't have done it better.

You see, when we become Christians, we are not promised that bad things will not happen to us.  Bad things do happen.  Fathers die, houses burn, pets are lost.  Cancer strikes, jobs are "downsized," disappointments break our hearts.  The difference for Christians is that we know no matter what trial or tribulation befalls us here on earth, we have a heavenly Father who cares for us.  He listens to our prayers, and He knows what we need. 

He has also blessed us with each other, to lift each other up, to bear one another's burdens, to love each other through our dark days.  If God brings us to it, God will bring us through it.

Through the experience of helping this precious family, the Mission Athens team has had the opportunity to work with Christians from several different area churches.  So often, Christians debate doctrine, focus on what divides us, spend time on our soapbox picking out the specks in each other's eyes.  This week, it was a tremendous blessing to focus on what unites us--the love of Christ--and to share that love with a family who desperately needed comfort and peace. 

As we start our week on this Monday morning, let us all open our eyes and see the people in our lives who may be asking, "Why do bad things keep happening to me?"  We can be a blessing to these hurting souls, and we need to seek out those opportunities to bear one another's burdens.  Let us not focus on our own small problems but instead look outward into a world that desperately needs our light and love.  As Jesus said to us, "For when you see Me, you see the One who sent Me.  I have come as a light to shine in this dark world, so that all who trust in Me will no longer dwell in darkness."  John 12:45-46.