Tennessee sunset
Bob had a tough day yesterday, but I love the way it ended. According to his report, he chose to “grab some grace and push through.” It took him a couple of hours but “peace came eventually.”
And then he writes, “My incredible wife told me to do what I had to do, so I went into the back yard with my dog, lit a cigar, and lay in the hammock staring at the late afternoon Tennessee sky. Grady, our JackChi mix jumped up on my chest, lied down and just stared at me as if to say, ‘Relax Bob; it’s all good.’ You know what, it is all good, because when I get down to it, it’s all God. I’m His and He is mine.”
This sounds almost too simple to be true, but it is. Paul put it this way in Romans 8:28, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”
God causes… This seems to indicate God is working in and through all the stuff in my life — the good and the seemingly bad. This is the truth. If it sounds like God is manipulating things behind the scenes that’s because He is.
All things... Not just a few things. Not just those things we pray about or those things that are spiritual in nature. Not just those things we do right. It’s impossible to screw this up because it says “all things.”
To work together for good... Not sure what this is exactly except that is appears to be an intertwining of events. God is somehow bringing about the eventual good out of everything in our lives. C.S. Lewis says that when we get to the end of our lives, we will look back through everything that happened, and, try as we may to find something bad, we just won’t find it. Like Grady says, “It’s all good.”
To those who love God… I suppose you could call this the one condition, but how hard it is to love God? How hard is it to love someone who first loved you enough to die for you that you might be able to be forgiven and live with Him forever?
To those who are called according to His purpose… It involves us, but it’s really God’s thing. The good is His good; the purposes are His purposes. This is all His doing whether we’re in on it or not. It’s all good, because it’s all God.
This is why, by faith, you can keep on going, because you know that this is going on. This is not just about how things end; this is how you handle being in the middle, because this is how things end.
So at the end of the day, lean back and listen to the dog. The dog has it right. “Relax, it’s all good.”
John Fischer The Catch 
This is good for me today, John. I’ve been worrying – ME – the one who, like Alfred E. Newman of Mad Magazine fame, says, “What? Me Worry?” I’ve been worrying about January, 2014, when the new healthcare mandates require that I have insurance. Sounds like a good idea, until I crunch the numbers and find I’m the one getting crunched, or more accurately crushed. So, I’ve been going around in circles, worrying about whether I’ll be able to keep my house (you know how THAT feels), and worrying about what will happen to the little family of 3½ (they have a baby coming in July) who rent the duplex side of my house if I have to sell – or worse – lose the house, and my home-based business? Bob’s comments and your own remind me that, 1. (my paraphrase of Romans 8:28) God hasn’t dropped me on my head yet, and He’s not likely to start now. Then to paraphrase Job 13:15 (Though He slay me, I will hope in Him): if God DOES drop me on my head, it’s for my good and since I belong to Him, it’s up to Him to fix it; and 2. January 2014 isn’t here yet and lots of things can transpire in a few months. This brings me back to my usual sanguine state of “What? Me worry?” So, thank you both.
My son Grant had a tough day yesterday too. When I saw your Catch in my inbox I knew those words were meant for him as well, so I forwarded them to him. I quickly got an email back from him telling me how much he appreciated your commentary on Romans 8:28. He told me something I shouldn’t have been surprised to hear but was. Romans 8:28 was the very verse he has been meditating on all week as he prepared for a big job interview for the job he learned he did not get yesterday. God used your Catch to reassure and comfort him that He is in control. I couldn’t help but think what a beautiful picture this is about how the Catch operates to bless so many in it’s wide far-reaching net. It started with Bob in Tennessee, who shared with his ‘incredible wife’ and dog Grady, then Bob shares with you in California, you share with me (Beth) in Florida, I share with my son Grant in Ohio, who, through this crazy circuitous route is comforted and reassured by God that it is indeed all good! God works in mysterious ways his wonders to perform. Imagine how many other stories there are out there everyday of people who are touched by the Gospel of the Catch. Thank you John and Marti for casting your net over the side of your boat into the vast ocean everyday and sharing what you’ve caught with people you can’t even imagine.
I would have to agree, but I am still learning about the struggles of those who don’t agree. “How hard it is [sic – I am assuming you meant “is it” rather than “it is”] to love God?” I have come to (tearfully) accept that there are some (I thank God not to be one of them) who would reply, “Love God? Sometimes I HATE God!!!!” We who do love Him, and who are learning to live through our trials and disappointments in faith (and on some days, it is certainly not easy to believe Rom. 8:28) should attempt to learn how to help people like that. I have no trite solution for that — but for me, at least, it starts with awareness of how they feel.