A #lifetime The conversion of a soul is the miracle of a moment, but the manufacture of a saint is the task of a #lifetime. Alan Redpath

Dark Days... There are moments in #life that are very bleak. It is those times when our eyes should be lifted up, searching for the Christ that suffered and died for us. It is those times we can understand, in the smallest of ways, what it cost for our redemption!

The King loses a thumb A tribal king had a close friend with whom he grew up. The friend had a habit of looking at every situation that ever occurred in his #life (positive or negative) as well as the lives of others and remarking, “This is good!” He based it on Romans 8:28 which assures us that God can turn every situation (good or bad) into ultimate good. The king loved his friend’s positive outlook and took him with him wherever he went. One day the king and his friend were out on a hunting expedition. As the king fired his gun at a bird that flew up from the long grass, the rifle backfired and blew off his right thumb. Looking at the king’s bleeding hand, his friend said, as usual, "This is good!" The king was very angry and replied, "No, this is NOT good!" and sent his friend to jail for his insensitivity. About a year later, the king was hunting all alone and ended up in an area he should not have been. Cannibals captured him and took him to their village. They tied his hands, stacked some wood, and were going to cook him in a big pot. As they set fire to the wood, they noticed that the king was missing the thumb on his right hand. Being very superstitious, they would never eat anyone who was less than perfect. So they released the king. Walking home he kept staring at his right hand without a thumb. “This IS good!” he said out loud. He was reminded of the event that had taken his thumb and felt remorse for his shabby treatment of his friend. So he went immediately to the jail to speak with his friend. "You were right," he said, "it was good that my thumb was blown off." And he proceeded to tell the friend all that had happened. "And so, I am very sorry for sending you to jail for so long. It was bad for me to do this." "No," his friend replied as usual, "This is good!" "What do you mean? How could it be good that I put my friend in jail for over a year?" "Well,” replied his friend, “if I had not been here in jail, I would have been out there with you!"