God Is Good All the Time

Thursday evening was my wife’s birthday and we had planned a family dinner at the Bonefish Grille in Macon which is one of her favorite restaurants.

I had gone to Macon earlier in the day to attend a funeral and I was waiting on my wife and daughter to meet me at Bonefish when my cell phone rang.

My daughter very excitedly said, “We’ve hit a deer and the car won’t run and all the fluid has leaked out.” I left Bonefish and went to the scene of the incident about a half-mile away. My wife’s vehicle was mangled and could not run. The deer was also mangled and could not run. My wife’s vehicle can be repaired; the deer cannot be repaired unless there is a heaven for deer.

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We waited two hours for the tow truck to tow the car to the Chevrolet dealership in Macon. Friday morning I began the process of contacting our insurance company and procuring a rental car for my wife. After that was done my wife hopped in the rental and left for North Carolina for a family reunion.

I traveled over to Eatonton Friday night and thoroughly enjoyed watching the Piedmont Cougars put a whipping on the Gatewood Gators. It was a great night for those of the Cougar persuasion. Saturday morning I was off to Athens to watch the Georgia Bulldogs trounce New Mexico State in their homecoming game.

After arriving home from Athens, I had a little conversation with my daughter who had stayed in town for the Deer Festival. She left to spend time with friends and I settled in with some leftover barbecue from the tailgate at the Georgia game to watch the South Carolina-Arkansas game and the Alabama-LSU game.

Arkansas was up on South Carolina while Alabama and LSU were just beating up on each other when the phone rang. It seems my daughter was now in auto accident though it was only small one. Someone had backed into her at Circle K while she was waiting to put gas in her car. I met her at the police station to fill out the accident report. When that was done I was able to watch the conclusion of both games.

My wife arrived home from North Carolina around midnight. I heard the details of the family reunion, we discussed our daughter’s accident and I believe I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.

Sunday was church. We had a bittersweet day at the First United Methodist Church. We celebrated All Saints Day as we honored those among our congregation who had entered the church triumphant in the last year.

There was a sense of grief because of the loss of some great folks but there was also a sense of celebration because we know that those who we miss are in the eternal care of Almighty God.

So it is on Monday that I sit in my office writing these words. I know that very few if any of you care about my weekend. However, I simply tell the stories to show that in life the good comes with the bad. I am thankful that even though they were involved in accidents my wife and daughter were not hurt.

I am thankful that even though I must now deal with hassle of getting cars repaired, I do have cars and I have insurance for them.

I would be lying if I denied being thrilled about the fact that at the close of the day Saturday the Dawgs were in first place in the SEC East. I would also be lying if I said I wasn’t worried about the game with Auburn this Saturday.

On Sunday while we mourned some wonderful folks I personally was very thankful that God allowed me to share in their earthly lives. I am thankful to have been their pastor and thankful that God gave me the opportunity to know them.

In the end life brings us both good and bad. Heck, to be perfectly honest sometimes life brings us good and bad in the same day. While life brings us good and bad there is one thing that is constant and that is the goodness of God. I can’t remember who I first heard speak these words but they certainly ring true, “God is good, all the time; all the time, God is good.”

Truer words have never been spoken and it is on these words that I stand.