Rocky: “How did everything that’s so good, get so bad?”

Adrian: “What’s so bad?”

I think every person in America must answer this question by Adrian honestly, “What is so bad?” For that matter, every Christian must answer this question, “What is so bad?” And if you are blessed to have a beating heart, “What is so bad?” (At least you made it out of the womb before Roe V. Wade got to you).

What is so bad?

I am asking this most important of questions on a dreary wet day, it is a day in which the rain can’t decide if it wants to turn white or make another muddy puddle painting all the world in a heavy drab gray.

It is on days like this where all the world seems bad that a question like this matters most. Nothing is going right. I am stuck on the hamster wheel with no end to the tedium in sight.  But what is so bad about having another day to live?

By nature and disposition, I tend toward the melancholy, I am drawn to it. I like minor keys and songs of sadness. It lifts me up to feel down. But if I don’t watch it I can start spiraling. Feeling like I am the only one who steps in the puddle and muddies his shoes. I am not the only one who longs for the sun. It is easy to play the “poor me” game. Just ask my older sisters, they often would hold a “pity-party” just for me. 

“Okay everyone, let’s feel sorry for Chris…say it together…one..two..three…awe!” 

Oh, how I hated it when they would do that. It spoiled my wonderfully dark mood when I was sure that all the world owed me, I wanted to feel mistreated so they treated me as I thought I deserved to feel. The point of the party was to wake me up to the reality that I am not the only one stepping in puddles and hoping for the sun.

Not only was the world not about me, but they wanted me to realize that I had it great, and I still have it great. It ain’t so bad.

You may be thinking, “Oh yes it is, you don’t have my life. You don’t know my kids. You don’t work at my job. You don’t have my broken down body of heavy bones.” No, I don’t. But I do know what you have…just think about it a second.

(1) A God who is still on the throne, and I am not using this in a trite or cliche way: Psalm 11:4-6. This is the same God who has angels encamp around those he loves (Psalm 34:7), who gives you more than you can ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20), and who did not spare his Son (Romans 8:32). Think about the last verse, it will blow you away.

(2) Breath in your lungs: If you still have breath in your lungs that means you have another chance to get things right. Because once you lose your breath, Hebrews 9:27 says the game is over, and you will have to give an account. Do you remember when the rich man died in Luke 16:22-23? The moment he died he opened his eyes on the other side and his future was fixed forever. Now that is what I call terrifying. Just think, you can still affect eternal change, right now, this day, even while the cold-rain falls and the gray puddle forms. Instead of worrying about stepping in it, you can splash in it with a smile.

(3) You can taste a strawberry, you can touch a puppy, you can see the color red. I will never forget the story of a man who was blind his whole life and after some doctors figured out how they could give him his sight, they sat him up, opened his eyes and let him look at the world for the first time. They then asked him what was the most amazing thing he saw. “The color red.” You probably see red every day and never give God thanks that you can.

(4) You live in peace. You may hate Trump, despise Obama, vomit on politics, but you are not fighting in WW2, the Civil War, or being taken over by Ghengis Khan. You have got it good. We live in relative, no, scratch that…we live in absolute ease. From 1941-1945 almost 90% of the Polish people were forced off their land and relocated either to a factory in Germany, a concentration camp, or working on a farm in southern Ukraine. And you have Speedway down the street where you can get a 44-ounce cherry slushie any time you want.

(5) You are not in hell.  That last one is real. That last one is deserved. That last one is delayed and blocked because a man died in your stead.

I woke up this morning with aching feet, but at least I could take an Advil and warm socks to dull the pain. I had an apple for breakfast that was a bit soft, at least if filled my stomach. I was cold when I walked the dog in the morning, at least I wasn’t burning hot in sulfur.

See, it ain’t so bad. Lighten up, start over and enjoy the day. Nehemiah 8:10 says “the joy of the Lord is my strength.” Joy in the Lord does not take away the puddle or change the color gray, but it does change you. Joy takes chances, joy opens the door and gets off the couch, joy laughs again.

So what’s so bad? One thing only, your attitude!