God Works for the Good Romans 8:28
Praying over the city at Coffee Bené.
September 11, 2018 at 8:35 AM · Saint Paul ·
Today’s ride took me a different direction. Nina’s is being renovated so I thought I would head toward the river, this time not stopping until I hit the coffee shop. When I got here to write, I realized that I didn’t get a “good” picture, but this sign in front of me seemed important, and witty, especially on 9-11. We could add, “unless you are giving your life”, but there is something very honorable, quite noble in that sacrifice.
The verse that kept rambling in my head as I peddled along asking God what He would have me write was, Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good…” The verse goes on to talk about those that love Him and are called to His purpose, and we know that “all things” don’t always look good. Certainly, the horrific events and the paramount loss of 9-11 and the wars that followed were NOT good, but if we look closely, we see how God worked good through it.
Do you remember how united we were as a nation? Pulled together in one cause of stopping this from happening again. We pulled close to our allies—and them to us—and we worked diligently to form bonds with other nations willing to help. We stood by the families of loss—the United States government approving an unsigned check for any amount to try, in some way, to make this horrible situation just a little bit better. And, not one American was saying, “That cost is too high.” We all rallied together to try to make this better—to try to allow good to come from evil.
We didn’t all agree on the path to go. We were using torture techniques to try to gain information from the people held captive. John McCain disagreed—he wanted us to rise above this, to act honorably— to truly treat other people the way that we would want to be treated REGARDLESS of how they behave. His clear voice of justice and reason eventually won people over.
Look at us today, 17 years later, we are not that same nation, and I would hope we don’t need another such tragedy to realize that things work better when we work for the same cause. When we hold the truth that our forefathers penned,
“We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all people are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” All, all…all…
In the realization of these “unalienable rights”, we realize there are no borders, and we must consider and listen to all people. It is only through an attempt to understand, compromise, and offer compassion to the world that we can finally shine a Light into the evil places. Let us not have another 9-11 tragedy before we realize we can continue to apply the good we learned that fateful day every day. Let’s give our 100% to the good… ❤
Dearest Heavenly Father, please hold up the families who lost so much today and through the wars that followed. None of this is new to You. You’ve seen us hurt each other through all the ages, but whomever we are, wherever we are, please offer Your Mighty Strength so that we might do good and bring back the unity we felt on September 12, 2001. If we seek You and Your will, we will be drawn together to make this world better for all. You are the Master, You are the Creator…and we only love because you first loved us. (1 John 4:19) May we draw from Your Vision and Mercy always. In Your Mighty and Holy Name…
I love you all peeps. Truly and completely. I am blessed to be on this journey with you. So very blessed AND if you have a prayer request, lay it on my friend. Let’s spread some good…