This is Good

[stephen]

The story is told of a king in Africa who had a close friend with whom he grew up. The friend had a habit of looking at every situation that ever occurred in his life (positive or negative) and remarking, "This is good!"

One day the king and his friend were out on a hunting expedition. The friend would load and prepare the guns for the king. The friend had apparently done something wrong in preparing one of the guns, for after taking the gun from his friend, the king fired it and his thumb was blown off. Examining the situation, the friend remarked as usual, "This is good!"

To which the king replied - "No, this is not good!" and proceeded to send his friend to jail.

About a year later, the king was hunting in an area that he should have known to stay clear of. Cannibals captured him and took him to their village. They tied his hands, stacked some wood, set up a stake and bound him to the stake.

As they came near to set fire to the wood, they noticed that the king was missing a thumb. Being superstitious, they never ate anyone who was less than whole. So untying the king, they sent him on his way.

As he returned home, he was reminded of the event that had taken his thumb and felt remorse for his treatment of his friend. He went immediately to the jail to speak with his friend.

"You were right," he said, "it was good that my thumb was blown off." And he proceeded to tell the friend all that had just happened." And so, I am very sorry for sending you to jail for so long. It was bad of me to do this."

"No," his friend replied, "This is good!"

"What do you mean, 'This is good'? How could it be good that I sent my friend to jail for a year?"

"If I had not been in jail, I would have been with you, and not here with you right now."

This message teaches the following.

"Absolutely everything happens for a purpose; and out of what seems like adversity at the time there eventually comes good".

I'm sure that if any of us care to reflect back on the tragedy's, the heartaches, the 'bad times' in our lives, that we discover that we have really grown or developed during that period of time: even though the reflection may still cause us discomfort in some way.

It is in this way that we slowly gather experience and wisdom, and even though we may think or feel that it is unfair, that's the way God planned it.

"This is good". Many of our life's experiences have saved us from some form of cannibals; it's just that we often don't know that they have at the time.

So, for a simple example to help with awareness: next time you may begin to feel you are being 'wronged' by being stuck in a traffic jam, think about the cannibals that could be lurking down the road a bit, but will be gone by the time you get there.

I hope this story gives you the encouragement it gave me.

Stephen

[firefly77]

Stephen,
Thank you for posting this story. I enjoyed it very much and plan on sharing it with some of my friends.

Angie

[aqrinc]

!!This is Good!!.

Thanks for that one Stephen.

george.

[Ninny]

Steven, VERY nice, VERY encouraging! Thank you!
Kathy

[crystal]

Thanks Stephen, I have experienced this in my life. I can look back and see how God used many experiences both good and bad to save me from..., change me, grow me. He has been so faithful in my life and has brought me through every mountain and valley and given me greater faith, hope and love for Him and His plan and purpose for my life.  Thanks again for the story. What a precious reminder of Gods faithfulness!


Growing in grace, Crystal 

[Fester]

cough cough ... gag ... I hate Glurge!

[cjwood]

this IS GOOD stephen. a parable for all of us to meditate on. our God IS good. thank you for posting it and for your comments as well. btw, how is your wife progressing? our God is so awesome to teach us through this parable story.

claudia

[Marlene]

Stephen, All I can say is that after god showing me his truths a everything just makes sense. It helpe us handle trials better for sure. It might not be what we want , or how we want it to turn out. But, it is all pefect to bring us to perfection.

Really, nice post Stephen.

In His Love,
Marlene