The Ripple Effect

This message kind of piggy-backs off the last one about God making good from bad.

I recently read the book "Same Kind of Different as Me" by Ron Hall and Denver Moore. If you have not read it, PLEASE do! It's incredible! It's a faith-based book about the way God worked in the lives of a husband and wife and one homeless man. He brought them together in a way that changed all of their lives, plus the lives of countless others. And even if you aren't a "crazy Christian" like me, you can still enjoy this book b/c it's about humanity and real issues in the world.

There is one really sad part in the book. I read it and lay in bed crying with Scott looking very concerned. It's a true story, and I had a reaction similar to that of one of the characters. Why would God do this? Well, in the book we see several lives that are changed because of that one sad thing. Right away God revealed part of his purpose. Then, as I read it and felt encouraged and inspired by these stories, I realize I was being changed, too! The people that this happened to could not have known what type of effect it would have on anyone, and they certainly would not have predicted it would have any effect on me! But God knew. When God did that sad thing, He knew each and every life it would affect. He planned it that way.

Then I realized, everything that happens in this world is like a stone thrown into a pond. It has a ripple effect. One action (the stone thrown in the pond) causes lots of reactions (the ripples). I realized in that moment, I am a ripple of this one incident! And I don't personally know these people; I wasn't there when it happened. But it has changed me and countless others who knew the people, have heard the story, or have read the book.

This also reminded me of the movie Letters to God. It is also a book, but I've never read it. Sorry to spoil it for those who haven't seen it, but the little boy in the movie ends up dying from cancer. It seems so tragic because he has such unwavering faith throughout the whole movie, but God still takes him. But we see at the end of the movie how it has helped his family grow in their faith. Also, during the credits (this was a true story), we see testimonies and stories of real people who were touched and inspired by this story--particularly other cancer victims and survivors. Who knows how many people were saved because of the death of this one boy?

And of course that made me think about Jesus. He was perfect. Never sinned. Loved everyone. Was God's only son. And he was beaten and killed. God did that to his own son. And I'm not saying that to claim that God is heartless or anything. I'm pointing this out because of what happened due to Jesus's death. By his stripes we are healed! Because he died and rose again, we too can die to our old selves and rise again in Christ. Because he took on the wrath of God, we are saved from our sins and do not have to suffer in that same way. I mean, we can't even truly understand the amount and magnitude of the good that came out of that terrible event. I am a ripple.

Ripple effects don't just happen from bad things. "Same Kind of Different as Me" has lots of wonderful things that happen. And each of those things has affected me and others as well. It makes me kind of think of a boiling pot of water. Or a rainstorm. So many eruptions in the water, so many ripples--all colliding into one another, morphing along the way. That's kind of how life is. And what's awesome is it looks and feels chaotic to us, but it is all perfectly planned by God and He is completely in control of all those ripples. So crazy!

So, again, when something happens in this world and it doesn't seem fair and you question God and can't find any good in it whatsoever, just trust that there are ripples being sent out into the world, and good is going to happen. You may never see that good, but it's out there...even if it's several ripples away.