Isn't it About Time for Some Good News?

After our bedtime prayer tonight, I told Jonathan that I do not remember ever hearing about so many deaths and bad news  as we have in the last few weeks--everything from four different people literally dropping dead, 

to others being severely injured or killed in accidents,

 to local funerals,

to watching a local friend struggle with a mental breakdown,

 to news about a former missionary coworker, Steve Gibson, being diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer.

And another friend, Nathan Bryant, a pastor and cook along with his wife Amy at many camp meetings and men's retreats, was just given only two weeks by the doctor, after a battle with cancer. His wife Amy and I used to attend the same church when we were teenagers--Zion Wesleyan Methodist Church in Pennsylvania. 

The only thing Jonathan and I know to do is to turn over the burdens of the world to our heavenly Father and keep working at the tasks we have to do. Today it was cutting firewood and chipping branches with a friend's chipper.

Earlier this week the BHE crew worked at Martin, helping the crew blowing insulation into the church hall walls. 

The utility trailer holding all the insulation equipment caught on fire that day, but one of the crew was out there and saw it happen, grabbed a fire extinguisher, and put out the fire, saving almost everything. That was good news!

Yesterday BHE guys worked right up in White River transforming a window into a sliding door. 

And I had the crew in for a hot lunch for once--chili, cornmeal muffins, apple salad, and chocolate cookies. Then that evening I invited four girls (all from one family) who had played basketball with their school in White River to also come to our place for supper and games. That was a hoot personified! I hadn't seen or heard so much drama in a LONG time.

"They were girls!" my girls reminded me. 

Oh, that's right!

"And we were just as noisy growing up!" someone added tonight. 

I didn't think so, but then my memory may be going bad. 

At least everyone was alive and had not been recently diagnosed with cancer or brain injury or diabetes. 

And then Rose sends pictures of dear baby Ellie--in this picture having a blast with the two dogs in the family.  It looks like maybe the little black and white one is jealous of the gold getting to be the one next to baby Ellie!

Isn't it about time for some good news for once? That's what babies are for, I think!

And music--good music is always good news. Today as a friend who is struggling sat in our living room, Crystal played a Christmas song on the piano. 

"Thank you!" the lady murmured.

And then the next morning, which was Sunday morning, the Scripture was from 2 Corinthians 3:8-17..

"We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.

...That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever."