Today may be bad, but God is good"This is embarrassing, but I confess

that I did something really dumb the other day. I locked my keys in my

car.

In all of my years of driving, and of all the other dumb things I've

ever done, I've prided myself in the fact that I've never locked

my keys in my car. I always make sure that I have my keys in my hand or

in my pocket before I close the car door. The crazy thing was, I didn't

just lock my keys in the car. I also left the motor running.

I was preaching the funeral of a long-time member of my former church.

Our practice there in that north Georgia community is to gather at the

funeral home for prayer with the family, and then to proceed with the

hearse to the church. After I pray with the family, I usually go ahead

to the church to check on last minute details.

When I drove into the church parking lot, I had my mind on catching up

with the minister of music and making sure we had our order of service

together. I pulled into the parking lot, threw the car into park and hopped

out of the car. As soon as I shut the door, I started feeling my pockets

and realized that I didn't have my keys. And then I thought, "Is

that car still running?"

Suddenly my mind was no longer on the funeral message. I was wondering

how in the world I was going to get into the car and how long the gasoline

would hold out. I had not planned to spend the whole day in north Georgia.

I told one of the funeral home workers what I had done and asked him to

be thinking with me about how we could solve my dilemma.

The funeral started and, in the middle of the congregation singing "Because

He Lives," another funeral home employee came into the foyer, caught

my attention on the podium and held up my keys. A wave of relief swept

across me and I went "Yes!" right in the middle of the verse

that goes, "And then one day we'll cross the river, I'll

fight life's final war with pain."

Now I could get in the funeral spirit.

I think it was Mama who said there'd be days like this. Have you

ever thought about pastors having a bad day? Being human, we pastors have

our share of rotten days just like everybody else.

You've heard those "You know you're having a bad day when

..." sayings. Someone wrote some for pastors. Pastor, you know they're

having a bad day when:

The church votes to change your day off to Sunday;

You preach the same sermon

two Sundays in a row and no one notices;

You are elected pastor emeritus

of the church at age 28;

You ask a woman where her

husband is today and she replies, "right where you buried him last

week."

You go to the rest room and

forget to turn off your lapel microphone and a "holy flush"

fills the sanctuary through the sound system.

One of your sermons wins the

prize on "America's Funniest Home Videos."

When days like this come along, when little irritations and inconveniences

come into our lives, or when major adversity surfaces, we need to remember

that today may be bad, but God is good. The Psalmist wrote, "You

are good, and what you do is good..." (Psalm 119:68). God gives us

His comfort and strength to deal with life's tough times.

God also uses these tough experiences to teach us and to grow us spiritually.

Psalm 119:71 reads, "It was good for me to be afflicted, so I might

learn your decrees." Afflictions are good teachers.

God grows our character and strengthens our faith as we lean on Him and

learn from Him. One word translated "character" in the New Testament

means "proven reliable." God wants to make us strong and he

uses the aggravations that come our way to produce positive gains spiritually.

The next time hardship comes your way, let God teach you, and as you hang

in there, remember, God is good.