stanpavkovich

Last week I spoke with someone after service and they had a great question. They told me that they understand why bad things happen to good people in the context of sin and the fall – but wondered, how can you explain when a small child dies or someone dear to you dies of cancer?

In other words:

Why didn’t God intervene for my loved one?

Is he not powerful enough?

Or did he not care?

It brings up the misconception regarding the nature of God that says: He is either all powerful and doesn’t care or that He cares and is not all powerful.

Circumstances like these raise difficult questions. We are not God, and are coming from a very limited perspective.

When I am trying to make sense of the injustice and suffering I see in the world it helps to keep in mind the following things:

God has a bigger perspective than us.
Again, like the parade illustration from last week’s blog. Sometimes what God allows may be less terrible than the future we had in mind.
We don’t know what the future holds, but he does.

God uses suffering to draw us closer to Him.
We can see this all through the Bible.
Job 36:15 says, “But those who suffer he delivers in their suffering; he speaks to them in their affliction.”

C.S. Lewis said it this way, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, he speaks to us in our consciences, but he shouts in our pain. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

There have been many times in Karen and my life when tragic things have happened to us or to those that we love deeply. We’ve asked the question, “God how can that be?” We weren’t immediately rescued from the situation…we and our loved ones; we were left in our suffering.

But in those times we have met God in a very deep and real way…we were drawn closer to him.

God can use suffering for a greater good.
Roman’s 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
God doesn’t cause all things. Like I said last week during the weekend message, God is not the creator of evil, but he certainly does allow things to happen. And if we allow him to, he’ll work good in it.

Consider the story of Joseph in Genesis 50:20.
Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers.
Joseph spent time in a prison when he was unjustly accused.
10, 15 or 20 years into the process Joseph probably looked up and said, “Why, God?”
I mean, “Where is your goodness here?
I don’t deserve any of this, and yet I’m getting it.”

And yet at the end of the story, his brothers come to see him as the savior, not only of Egypt, but of Israel. And he says to them in Genesis 50:20, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”

I’m convinced there are times that God will allow bad things to happen for a greater good to be accomplished.
Sometimes we see it in our lifetime, and sometimes we don’t.

Psalm 30:5 (New King James Version) 5 For His anger is but for a moment,
His favor is for life; Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning.

Be Blessed,

Stan

Do you know who the greatest college football team in history is?

You might guess Oklahoma, or Notre Dame, or Alabama–but you’d be wrong.

The greatest college football team was the 1899 team from the University of the South which is in East Tennessee.

Today, college football teams play one game a week.

But in 1899, the 12 players on the Tigers team left to play five major college teams in 6 days.

They boarded a train and in one week they beat Texas, Texas A&M, Tulane, LSU, and Mississippi.

None of those teams scored a single point.

For the season the Tigers were 12-0.
They outscored their opponents 332-10.

Those were the days when the helmets were made of thin leather with no face guards.

They could fold their helmets up and put them in their back pockets after the game.

There were only twelve players…

They played five teams in six days…

What is my point in sharing this story?

It means those guys played hurt.

I’m sure they sustained injuries and pain…

But they kept on playing anyway.

As we follow God in this life we are going to face a lot more then football injuries.

I want to encourage you to not quit…don’t give up.

Remember 2 things…

First…Remember you are not alone God doesn’t expect you to do this on your own.

You are on a team… the team is called the church. We need to lean on each other.

Second…Remember those that went before us are cheering us on.
We don’t have a stadium of people rooting for us. We have generations of people who have gone before us, cheering us on.
Hebrews 12:1-3 (NIV) Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Be Blessed,
Stan

I don’t know about you, but I’ve got to be careful how much news I watch or read because it can be downright depressing.

But once in awhile you run across an article that is uplifting and encouraging I want to share with you one such article I came across several weeks ago. 
Be blessed,
Stan

On any given Sunday, praise the Lord and run the play

Rick Maese
January 29, 2009
TAMPA, Fla.

Cardinals QB Kurt Warner: “I’m trying to represent Jesus.” (Orlando Sentinel by Gary W. Green / January 27, 2009)

There was Kurt Warner, addressing the godless – notebook-toting cynics who worship at the altar of the free media buffet. Our saviors are sharp-eyed copy editors, and our gods were the Babe and Unitas and Jordan. Who has time for Jesus talk?

Unfortunately, our subject behind the microphone has nothing more important to talk about.

No, it wasn’t surprising that it took Warner just a couple of minutes before his talk turned from football to faith. But – and I suspect this was a news conference first – there were no groans from the assembled flock of hacks.

“It makes all the difference in my life,” the Arizona Cardinals quarterback says. “Everything I do and everywhere I go, I’m trying to represent Jesus.”
Rick Maese E-mail | Recent columns

You’ll have to forgive sportswriters a tad. Most have seen too many athletes espouse their spiritual side yet indulge their criminal. When an athlete mentions God, eyes roll and tape recorders shut off. When thanking Jesus is considered cliche, you know we have problems.

I was engrossed, though. I’m not sure whether it was the message or the messenger, but as I age and as the world around me becomes increasingly unreliable and unpredictable, it’s refreshing to see someone who has every reason to get caught up in a peripheral storm of money, ego, celebrity and excess remain so grounded.

“My faith helps me with everything,” Warner says. “The biggest thing about my faith is it helps keep everything in perspective. You understand the highs and lows. You understand what’s going on sometimes with the highs and lows when other people don’t see them.”

I’m no trend spotter, and there’s no way to quantify this, but from David Tyree to Tony Dungy to Tim Tebow, it seems as if faith has been enjoying an increasingly prominent role in football in America. If it really helps control temperament, I dare say God might be the best performance enhancer you can use legally.

It’s obviously not just the Super Bowl and not just Warner. You notice it in every locker room in the NFL. The league is a workplace where Bibles rest next to cleats, where Scripture is inked permanently on biceps and where winning and losing are explained through the prism of something much bigger than the NFL.

“It’s just a matter of understanding that God does care about anything you do, including a football game,” Ravens kicker Matt Stover told The Baltimore Sun’s Kevin Van Valkenburg not long ago. “Some people feel like he doesn’t. Well, he does. Or, they feel like, ‘There are so many other problems in the world, why would he worry about football?’ Well, because he loves you. You’re one of his children.”

Ravens center Jason Brown has thought much about the role God plays in football. His conclusion: It’s important for players to talk about it, he says, otherwise they risk becoming false idols.

“It’s our responsibility as players to put God in football,” Brown says. “You can’t expect the fans or spectators to do it. That’s why every time Stover makes a kick, he points up to heaven. He’s 40 years old – he’s not supposed to be out there. You know why he is? Because God blessed him with a long career.”

Warner is 37. On Sunday, he’ll become the third-oldest quarterback to start the Super Bowl. His edge is no secret. And if one of the most important players in the most important game says his most important influence happens to be a spiritual deity, why do we roll our eyes? Why do we uncomfortably stare at the ground, eager to shift the discussion to the Pittsburgh Steelers‘ blitz packages?

Faith, I suppose, is a private matter. Or not.

“Why do I always bring it up when I’m in interviews or when you’re on a stage like the Super Bowl or the NFC championship game? It’s the most important thing in my life,” Warner says. “Some people get up when they win an award and thank their wife or their kids. As important as those things are in my life, the first thing I always want to do is thank my savior in Jesus. He’s the most important thing in my life.

“Some people get tired of hearing it – ‘How does that relate to football?’ – well, it is who I am, it will always be who I am and it’s the most important thing in my life. So more times than not, it’s going to be the first thing I talk about.”

And when he does talk about it, it’s worth a listen. You don’t have to believe in his God or attend his church. But it’s hard sometimes to find things worth believing in. It’s comforting to hear Warner’s mix of humility and confidence. And it’s oddly reassuring to hear someone in the middle of the hype and the madness that surrounds America’s biggest game remind us all that it is, in fact, just a game.