Evil Doesn't Win

Have you ever watched a movie where the bad guy gets away?

You spend an hour or two watching the villain harass the protagonist, fully knowing that they will get theirs in the end.

Then as the end approaches the very unsettling feeling of dread washes over you as suddenly you realize that they get away. The bad guy gets away. The murderer escapes. The villain lives another day to torment someone else.

You want to know why it’s so unsettling?

Because most of us are instilled with the belief that good always wins.

We have been trained since birth that bad guys never win, and good guys always have the last word.

Evil is always conquered.

There has to be a reason that we walk around every day knowing that good always wins.

There has to be a reason that even though I have been walking through the hardest season of my life, I still know deep down in my heart that this isn’t how it ends. That this isn’t where it ends because evil does not win. And I think that we were created with this belief.

God created us in His image, and God is a God of justice.

He is the ultimate “good guy.”

Think about it.

He sent His Son to die on a cross as the atonement for our sins. Do you know what that means?

If we believe in Him… everything we have ever done and everything we will ever do… every mistake we make…knowingly and unknowingly… is paid for. It’s wiped away. It’s forgotten. There is no more record. Because He keeps no record of wrongs.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.” John 3:16

So why do we believe that good always wins?

Because everything that God has ever done has been proof that it does.

Because even if we suffer, there is hope.

Because even if we die, there is eternal life.

Because even if we lose a battle, He has won the war.

Because God is good.

And Good always wins.

Living for the Future

Have you ever gotten so caught up in plans, and ideas for your future that it just completely consumes everything you are? Lately, I've been so focused on what will be that I don't take a second to look at what is.

Last night our team got some pretty upsetting news. That we most likely will not be here next summer.

Now I believe that God does miracles and I'm all for seeing The Station being one, but I can't not make plans for my future.

Where will I live? What mediocre job will I take to replace the awesome one I have now? How can I still be a part of something bigger that matters?

So many questions swirling around in my brain. So many thoughts.

Thoughts like how much I hate job hunting, and how there really aren't affordable places to rent in Mammoth and I definitely lucked out with what I have.

These questions seem so overwhelming. But in the midst of the chaos in my brain, I took a second to stop and look around.

I somehow halted the perforating thoughts for long enough to breathe and be thankful for the now.

Gazing around our crowded lodge at all the campers and staff, I had this moment. I was grateful.

I was so happy that all these people are here and that I get to be a part of this.

This place was once my bosses dream, and for the past nine years she has been walking it out. She has fought and trudged through way worse things than just being snowed into the staffhouse.

Not only has she chosen to not give up, but she chooses each day to believe that there is something new God wants to show her.

So as I try to slow my mind and tell it the future will come and have worries of its own, I must also look to my King as He tells me "be still and know that I am God."

Know that He has everything covered.

Know that my wildest dreams don't even come close to the plans that He has for me.

And know that as I walk, stumble, fall, freak out, and hope to God my future isn't as hard as it's seeming to be, that He will always love me just as I am.

Here's to living for the future while being completely consumed by the now, and trusting that God will tell me when one becomes the other.