When things go bad in life

I read two interesting stories yesterday, from an email and a blog. Both about how when bad things happen to us in our lives, they may actually be good.

When your hut's on fire:

The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for God to rescue him. Every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming. Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect him from the elements, and to store his few possession! s. One day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, with smoke rolling up to the sky. He felt the worst had happened, and everything was lost. He was stunned with disbelief, grief, and anger. He cried out, 'God! How could you do this to me?' Early the next day, he was awakened by the sound of a ship approaching the island! It had come to rescue him! 'How did you know I was here?' asked the weary man of his rescuers. 'We saw your smoke signal,' they replied.

The Moral of This Story:
It's easy to get discouraged when things are going bad, but we shouldn't lose heart, because God is at work in our lives, even in the midst of our pain and suffering. Remember that the next time your little hut seems to be burning to the ground. It just may be a smoke signal that summons the Grace of God!

Good, it is Good!

Once upon a time, there lived a tribal king who loved to hunt. Whenever he went on his hunting trips, he would bring along his able tribesman, who was very good at navigating the forests for game.

One day, while the tribesman was loading the rifle, he accidentally pulled the trigger, and he shot at the tribal king’s last finger. Upon seeing what he had done, the tribesman said, “Good, it is good!”

Furious and in pain, the tribal king threw the tribesman into prison, banishing him from his future hunting trips. But the tribesman said again, “Good, it is good!” The tribal king could not understand why he said that, and ignored him.

After recovering from his injured finger, the tribal king went on his hunting trip.
This time, he went alone. Because he was unfamiliar with the territory, he treaded on forbidden grounds and was captured by another tribe. This tribe was a carnivorous tribe…so you can kinda guess what’s going to happen from here…

The tribes people started preparing a cauldron of broth, ready to cook their new found “food”. While they were inspecting the tribal king, they found that he was short of a finger!

Now, these tribes people had a superstition…they cannot eat any human being who’s not complete. Disgusted and disappointed, they released the tribal king.

Upon his release, the tribal king ran back home gleefully to look for his tribesman locked up in prison. “Good, it is good! Now, I finally realize why you said that! My life was spared because of the accident!”

The tribal king released him at once, and apologized profusely for locking him up. The tribesman told him, “No, no, don’t have to apologise! Good, it is good that I was locked up! Cos if I went on the hunting trip with you…guess who would be eaten instead?”

I have previously posted another story also along this line about how good luck and bad luck.

So next time something bad happens. Look on the bright side of life, it could be a blessing in disguise.