Jesus Does All Things Well
Once, a set of twins was born. ‘Jonny’, the older one, was perfectly healthy. ‘Ronny’, the younger one, was born with cerebral palsy. His brain would never function like his brother’s. He would never know a day without pain and medication. He would never even have the mental capacity to know why he was in pain.
When he was young, Jonny would pray that God would heal Ronny. He never understood why God allowed his little brother to be unable to play with him and his older brother.
The twins grew up. Jonny graduated from high school, then from college. He got married, had a little girl, and became a Southern Baptist preacher. Ronny never did any of that. He never learned to talk, never learned to walk, to read, never married, never even moved out of his parents’ home, could never stay alone, never learned to feed himself.
As he grew, Jonny’s question changed. He started asking God why He left Ronny here. Why not just take him home where he will have a restored mind and body without pain?
Reading a story like this, one might ask how anyone could say God is good.
Thing is, this isn’t just a story. This is real, except some name changes. Do you know how I know? I am that little girl. ‘Jonny’ is my dad. My uncle ‘Ronny’ is more dependent on his parents than I am. Yet I can say that God is assuredly good.
In spite of all his twin has been through, or maybe because of it, my dad stood up in the pulpit this very morning and preached on the subject, “By faith, we believe He does all things well.”
🙂 Great job focusing this back on God. Jesus does indeed do all things well.
Thanks. 🙂
I love this little story Jaygee; it's simple but also very thorough. I think everyone one of us has something in our life that doesn't make sense-something we question God about. But at the end of the day we have the faith to believe that what ever it is has or will have some purpose. I can find many things within my own life that didn't make sense when they first cropped up but when I look back I can piece together everything and that's when I /know/ that God knows what He is doing because He does in fact do all things well.
Thank you, Elanor.
Wow, that was a really good story and yes God does all things good. I really really really like this story 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 
Thanks, Ethran. 😀
Thanks for writing this, Jaygee! Reminded me strongly of my dad and his brother, actually. It really is amazing what God does through tough situations like that. 🙂
If your uncle is baptised, and loves God by all of his heart, well, one day one Hawkings would, if asking God why he was created, be asked to look at him.
I don't think he's baptized, because he hasn't made a profession of faith. He doesn't have the mental capacity to love God. He has the mind of...I would probably say a baby.
I don't know, really, what you mean.
A baby can be baptised, and when baptised believes with the Faith of the Church, Hopes with the Hope of the Church and Loves God with the Love of the Church.
God infuses all these virtues, and it is up to parents and Church to make sure they become more conscious later.
But should baby die before that, the burial is white, one is sure he or she went directly to Heaven.
Not in my denomination (Baptist). Baptism happens upon conversion, not before.
But I do believe that my uncle will be in heaven. Just like I believe my cousin who died the day he was born will be there.
*sigh* I am afraid some of your denomination will get some bad surprises about relatives due to Adam's sin.
Which is why we do baptise infants. If Adam's sin is enough to condemn, Christ's justice must be accessible for their salvation too.
Or yours will. Show me one instance in Scripture where an infant was baptized.
Very presumably this passage:
Acts 16: [28] But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying: Do thyself no harm, for we all are here. [29] Then calling for a light, he went in, and trembling, fell down at the feet of Paul and Silas. [30] And bringing them out, he said: Masters, what must I do, that I may be saved?
[31] But they said: Believe in the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. [32] And they preached the word of the Lord to him and to all that were in his house. [33] And he, taking them the same hour of the night, washed their stripes, and himself was baptized, and all his house immediately. [34] And when he had brought them into his own house, he laid the table for them, and rejoiced with all his house, believing God.
Haydock comment:
Ver. 33. Was baptized, being first told what he was to believe, and do. (Witham) --- Hence Catholics draw a very plausible argument for the baptism of infants, as it is very probable there were some infants in the family. See Estius, in different location.
