We have this little back and forth interaction with our pastor on some Sunday mornings. It goes like this:
Pastor: God is good.
Congregation: All the time.
Pastor: All the time.
Congregation: God is good.
Don’t worry…this isn’t going to be a long post on theology (smile). I find myself cringing sometimes when people use the statement, “God is good.” It’s not that I don’t believe it because I do with all of my heart. I just wonder what people who question faith or don’t have faith think about it. For instance, I’ll see a post on FB asking for prayer. Everyone chimes in and says that they will pray for the situation. Days later, we may get an update that things went well and the prayer was answered in the way the person wanted. Friends will then comment that “God is good.” I find it interesting, however, that people do not comment this way if the desired outcome is not achieved. I wonder…what do people who don’t have faith in Jesus think about this? I agree wholeheartedly that God should be praised for good outcomes to prayers. But we need to remember that He is still good and should be praised when things don’t turn out the way we may have hoped. I would hate for someone to assume that God is bad, or that they themselves must be bad, if God doesn’t answer in the way they wanted. We tend to think that because God is good…only good things will happen. This isn’t true. When my mom died suddenly from a brain aneurysm while playing with my children, God was still good (you can read about that in the post “I will see you again”). When my sister was in the throes of her addiction to alcohol, God was still good (she has been sober for over 10 years now – woo hoo). When my son spent a week in a psychiatric hospital because he wanted to end his life, God was still good (post “Buttons and shoestrings”). I could go on.
All of these things were difficult, but God was and is still good. These events caused me to wrestle with God. That wrestling has developed some good spiritual muscles (smile). God can take a tragedy and bring something miraculous from it. He can take our darkest moments and change lives of others. I would like to share a story with you. It’s not my story, but it so easily could have been. I introduce to you Rob and Linda Robertson. This video is from the last ever Exodus conference on June 20, 2013. Their story is one of pain, loss, hope, redemption and so much more. It’s 34 minutes, but it doesn’t seem long as you watch it. I urge you to take the time to view it:
God IS good…ALL the time. Thank you so much Rob and Linda for sharing your story. It truly is saving lives.
Are there “buts” attached to your love? We should love “just because they breathe.” Because love matters.
Love Matters 
I read this today and thought how far we come as a family ever since our then 13 year old son told us he was gay. It has been over some 13 months and I have to say how much we love our son unconditionally. In fact, we love all of our children the same and want what is best. This is a process for us and one where I would never thought of going through. Our hearts desire is to share but so many will never understand who we are and why we love the LGBTQ community and our gay son in the church. Only by Christs love can we truly love our son unconditionally.
Hi Nate! It is a process indeed! I am so glad to hear that you love your son. Sadly that is not always the case in Christian homes. I say BRAVO to you and your family for embracing him and working to understand him and then working to share that understanding.
Part of the process for us is when our son turns 16. At that time he can date. This applied to our daughter and will apply to our youngest son. When he is 16 he will be given that opportunity to date. I think where we have to overcome is seeing him hold a hand of another male or kiss another male. I say I think I am ready but getting to know our son’s boyfriend will help and we will be able to accept this part of the process.
My wife and I have finally started to slowly loosen the reigns and have told him that he can invite his friend over to our house to “hang out” and for dinner. We are more open to gays and even transgendered teens. We want our home safe for our children’s friends. We want to welcome straight, gay, or transgendered teens to our home.
In a million years, if you told me that I would allow this just 2 years ago I would have laughed. But now seeing things on the side of the LGBTQ community I have come to realize that gay teens are just as much as human as straight teens.
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