Heinie Hazards

We all have those funny family memories that are a source of laughter every time the story gets retold. An incident that happened with my daughter Regan is one of those funny memories.

Regan was four years old when we went to Disney. We were at the water park, leisurely enjoying floating on the lazy river. We came around a curve and spotted a cute little sign that said, “Sharks ahead” with a picture of a cartoon shark on it. Regan became terrified that there were sharks in that lazy river. It is hard to describe what she did next, but she somehow managed to travel the rest of the way around that lazy river lying on the donut float screaming while holding her heinie really high up so that it wouldn’t be hanging down into the water. She was going to make sure that no sharks could bite her in the booty! We tried to convince her that no sharks were there, but she had her own understanding of the circumstances and was convinced that we just didn’t know about the dangers ahead. We were obviously poor deluded adults who had no idea of the imminent peril we would be experiencing.

I wonder how a four-year-old can think she knows more than an adult….

…until I think about times I have acted like I know more than God. Oh, I would never actually say it or consciously even think it, but there have been times in my life when I have looked at a situation and thought surely I knew a better way of doing things.

I wouldn’t have allowed a seventeen-year-old athletic girl to have a diving accident that left her a quadriplegic…

But God did…and the world has been encouraged and inspired by Joni Eareckson Tada.

I wouldn’t have allowed a twelve-year-old girl to contract Lyme’s disease that would make her suffer excruciating pain and eventually be bedridden for the rest of her life…

But God did…and my dear friend Lisa Marie Angotti has taught friends, family, and strangers about what it means to trust God in the midst of suffering.

I wouldn’t have allowed a precious two-year-old girl to lose her life in the church parking lot as a car ran over her tiny body…

But God did…and her mother, Lilly Minor, who is my dearest friend, taught me about joy in the midst of sorrow and how God’s sovereignty and goodness always coexist, even when I don’t understand.

I don’t have to understand it all. But I have learned to trust God because He knows more than I do. I can trust that He is good even if I never see the good played out in the tragedies I see. I know that in my own life, the good has often been intangible spiritual growth. Romans 8:28 tells us that because we love God, “He works all things for the good.” What is that good? It’s in the next verse. “To be conformed to the image of His Son.” Sometimes we must go through sorrow to become more like Christ.

I trust God a lot more now than I did when I was young. And if He tells me there are sharks in the water, I’m going to be holding my heinie up! He knows what He is doing!

Reflect:

Can you think of situations in your own life or in the lives of others where good came from a bad situation?

If you were to experience a tragedy and never saw anything good come out of it, can you still trust that God is good?

What lessons has God taught you from your own tragedies?