FAITH: Sometimes bad can be good

Published 12:46 am Saturday, October 3, 2020

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Karen Stevens

I purchased a lamp the other day from what the receptionist likes to call the GW Boutique –  (ie -Goodwill).  I was in there looking for a small table for our senior room for Meals on Wheels.

I had purchased some chalk paint a few days before, and the receptionist painted an old table we already had, and distressed it.  It turned out so cute, I figured we could buy another old used one and do the same, which I was right.

The one I purchased from Goodwill turned out just as cute.  Now to get a newer sofa donated.  If anyone out there has a decent sofa, and they would like to give it to us, we will gladly take it.

But, back to the lamp.  The lamp base is an old piece of wood that I call worm wood.  It has all these interesting holes in it that were chewed out, and the wood is incredibly heavy.

I watched a report the other day stating that they may have found life on Venus, and when they say life – they mean microscopic.  It has not been big news because I think it’s still to early for them to confirm.  Sara Seager of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who announced on Sept. 14 the discovery of phosphine, a gas in Venus’s atmosphere.  They did not claim to have discovered life, only that they could not think of anything that might have produced phosphine other than microbes in the clouds.  On Earth, the only natural source of phosphine is microbes, which the gas is often associated with feces.

I think it’s great that scientist can figure these things out.  They don’t always get it right, but I do love technology and knowledge.  Just like your Doctor is “practicing medicine”, Scientist are “practicing” science.

The COVID virus has been such a huge issue and it is important for us as Christians, to remember that God created everything in a “good” state, and due to man’s sin, we should not be surprised that situations like the COVID-19 pandemic will happen.  We should see this situation as an example of the fact that we live in a fallen world.

God wants us to look forward to heaven that’s why in Matthew 6:20 it states “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.”

Viruses are a bit of an enigma. They contain DNA or RNA that are found in all living things.  Despite this, viruses are not usually considered living because they are not made up of cells and cannot reproduce by themselves.  Instead, the virus will inject the DNA or RNA into a living cell, and the cell will make copies of the virus and assemble them so they can spread.

Everything that God created, survives off of something else.  Who knew before the last 5 or 10 years that Humans needed bacteria in their gut in order to be healthy?

There are so many things in the world that I don’t see any purpose, like Love Bugs.  What can they possible be good for?  They only live about 72 hours.  How can they be productive in 72 hours?  They sure can be annoying in those 72 hours!

Only God knows, and that is the attitude we should have about everything.  Leaving everything in God’s hands, because he is the creator of all things, even if we have broken the system.

Bad things do bring beauty.  Just like the wood worm in my lamp.  Something bad, made this piece of wood rare, and unique.  We should look at all of our battle scars as just that.  Something that made us rare and unique.

Karen Y. Stevens is Executive Director at Meals on Wheels