One thing I absolutely love about the world we live in right now is the ubiquitous availability of information. It’s literally everywhere. Immediately. At any given time, there are at least a dozen unique forms of media all competing to be the first to update me with the latest and most relevant news and info. Personal interaction, phone, television, youtube, print, facebook, radio, twitter, the blog world… they all offer a unique spin on how I collect information – and I love to collect information.
One of my favorite ways that the latest and greatest news is delivered to me is through my iphone. Anywhere, anytime that little guy can vibrate and the screen will light up with some breaking news story or relevant snippet of knowledge.
I keep thinking that I will look down and love what I see. That it will be something so mind-blowingly momentous that I simply have to tell everyone within earshot all about this crucial happening. And they (with their inferior phones) will throw up their arms and rejoice with gratitude that they were chosen among the lucky few near enough to me, the sole harbinger of all things newsworthy, to receive this glorious revelation. And then they run off through the streets shouting, texting, calling, and tweeting to all the cave-dwellers still ignorant of this historic occasion.
But the problem is that the news always stinks.
Let’s recap the past couple weeks:
“At least 85 dead in Norway youth camp attack”
“A boom in corporate profits, a bust in jobs”
“Diplomatic hopes fading in Libya”
“6 killed in Texas roller rink rampage”
“Death toll rises to 119 in Russian riverboat sinking”
“America’s debt: The debt ceiling and default”
“Was the world powerless to stop Amy Winehouse?”
My phone vibrates, the screen lights up, and a dose of depression is injected directly into my brain.
Where is the good news? What is there to be optimistic about? I’m just waiting for the day when I open up USA Today and read, “Pollution, global warming responsible for destruction of silver lining in clouds.”
Even missions organizations are not immune to bad news. Just this week Seth was informed by a ministry partner in Haiti of a man caught trafficking orphans. Later in the week we received news that one of the boys at our orphanage in Swaziland was abducted by his stepfather and hung in a tree. This is not just bad news – it is devastating news. The kind that makes you shake your head and wonder where God could be in the midst of it all.
But there is good news. There always will be.
As christians we are called to be evangelists for the gospel – in other words, “enthusiastic advocates” for the “good news.” While yes, I am talking about the story of Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection, I’m also talking about the good news of the redemptive story in which Jesus is the critical element. A story that begins before before time and which continues to play out today.
The good news is that redemption is happening. That the world has been reconciled and we are actively taking part in bringing heaven to earth – in combatting the stories of evil with stories of hope. What does that look like? Lives changed. People undeniably compelled to go to the least and the lost bringing love and hope. People giving radically of their time, possessions, money. People trading someone else’s plan for God’s plan. Someone else’s will, for God’s will.
It looks like the Holy Spirit weaving his way through everyday interactions and the physical world as we know it being altered. This year alone Adventures in Missions will send over 7,000 missionaries into the world, spreading good news and not only changing the lives of those they encounter, but experiencing life-altering change within themselves.
Last week a team right here in Gainesville met a man with facial cancer. They prayed for him in the morning. At his appointment later that day, the man’s doctor informed him that his cancer is in remission.
A girl on another one of our teams was haunted by visible scars on her arms from her past as a cutter. Her team prayed for her and her scars faded away before their eyes.
And that was just last week.
There are stories like this happening every week, all over the world – read through some of the other World Race (theworldrace.org) and Real Life (http://www.adventures.org/reallife/) blogs to hear more about how God is using men, women, boys, and girls to change the world.
Even within our very own walls at Kingdom Dreams we are helping bring good news to life every day. More and more people are realizing their dreams of following God’s calling to fight sex trafficking, bring love to orphans, heal the sick, feed the hungry…
In a world bombarded by stories of cruelty, evil, greed, fighting and destruction, God is telling stories of compassion, hope, peace, love, and restoration.
And He is using people just like me – people just like YOU – to bring them to life.
And He is using people just like me – people just like YOU – to bring them to life.
In the midst of all the bad news, there is good news. And while it is our job to spread it, it is essential that we create it.
