A Little Good News

As the news of the shooting in the Capital scrolled across the screen, we all began to express our dismay.  "Oh, no.  Not more shooting."  The tragedy of pointless death was heartbreaking.  As we watched, someone said, "Well, that might have been just an average person...  There's nothing but bad news on all the time. It's more than I can take, so it's no wonder they lost it." 

This complaint of no good news seemed about right to me.  I watched the headlines off and on all afternoon, and never once did I see a piece of "good news".  Taxes, Obamacare, Government shut down... on and on.  Maybe she was right.  There is no good news.

I began to think "That can not be right", so I Google'd "good news".  This was totally shocking to me, but there is a TON of good news being reported, by the major media, on websites dedicated to good news.  Apparently this "good news"doesn't qualify for their primary websites, but there are alternate sites where good news is still available.

According to ABC's website (the good news one - www.abcnews.go.com), Zach Hodskin is a 17 year old high school student in Georgia who loves basketball, hits 60% of his shots, and has been offered a position on the Florida Gator's team for next year.  What makes this remarkable is that Zach has only one hand.  He was born missing the lower half of his left arm.  Zach is a remarkable young man.  Just as remarkable is that, in a town in Georgia, a coach saw a boy with one hand and gave him a chance.  I never played basketball, but I'm not sure most coaches would be excited about a one-handed player.  Someone in Georgia was, though, and it payed off in an amazing way.  Perhaps more important, is that the boys who grew up playing basketball with Zach see a team member and not a handicap.  One coach, giving one boy a chance, has made a difference for more than Zach.  He has likely changed his world for years to come.  That sounds like good news to me!

NBC news has a site (http://www.today.com/id/41743465/) entitled Today Good News.  Their site tells the story of two Girl Scout troops who were selling cookies and received an order for 6,000 boxes of cookies. The girls were thrilled and, of course, began to think about everything they would do with the money that they would earn.  Not only would it help with sending girls to camp, but money was also earmarked to help a Portland homeless shelter.  Little girls who wanted to make a difference had their hearts broken by the cruelty of someone who called the order a "joke".  When the Girl Scouts opened the office doors to start selling cookies, the townspeople had lined up into the parking lot, waiting for their chance to help.  Those sweet people in that town bought 4,000 boxes of those cookies by day's end. One day sales - 4000 boxes of cookies!  Can you imagine what that did for those little girls?  Will they ever get over people they did not know standing in line on an early Saturday morning to help them?  I expect not.  For years to come, those girls will remember that even strangers helped them, and when it comes their time to help, they will.  Their gifts to the homeless shelter will be all the more precious because of the miracle it took to provide them.  A little piece of their world was changed by the generosity of strangers.  That also sounds like good news to me!

When you Google, you are sure to find an entry for Wikipedia.  I thought you might be interested in what I found on Wikipedia when I Google'd "good news".  This is a direct quote:
"In Christianity, the gospel, also known as the Good News, is the message of Jesus, the Christ or Messiah - God's ruler promised by the Scriptures."  How very true!  I can't think of any better news than this:

"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)

Isn't that good news?  God didn't wait for us to clean ourselves up and get ourselves straightened out.  Jesus died for us to pay the penalty for our sin and set us free from its hold on our lives.  Now that is really good news. In fact, it's the best news of all!