Living Faithfully In An Upside Down World

DRIVING along at the speed limit and then in the rear view mirror a white object comes quickly into view, far too close to the rear of your vehicle, the driver gesturing.  This is the world where you can be in trouble for driving safely.

Then there’s the time when you ran that red light and in going straight through the intersection and you just miss another car.  This is the world where you do get away with many near-misses.

Excitement enters your life in the form of a positive pregnancy test.  You never thought you’d actually conceive.  You and your partner are ecstatic.  All the scans are fine, the baby’s growing, all going well, when suddenly one night there are contractions and bleeding.  This is the world where grief enters life at the moment of loss when minutes earlier there was only excited hope, when loss had no role in our lives.  Everything changes!

Smoking cigarettes was your passion once upon a time — you were a pack-a-day smoker.  You smoked for twelve years before you finally succeeded in giving the habit away!  Yet, it’s your workmate who’s never smoked in his life who gets terminal lung cancer and dies within twelve months of diagnosis.  This is the world where you can die from a disease having done the right thing all your life.  It’s a world where, in having done the wrong thing for a long time you sometimes get away with it.

Steady employment has been your way.  You’ve worked a few jobs for over five years on each occasion.  You’ve been regarded a dream employee.  The dream job comes up and you take the plunge.  In eighteen months you’re unemployed.  This is the world where dreams backfire sometimes.

***

It’s an upside down world, but the blessing still goes to the one who trusts God by faith.

Some days we ride our luck and thank God.  Other days we rise, not knowing if we have what it takes, but we do, and God helps.  Keep riding and keep rising.

© 2016 Steve Wickham.