Several people have commented to me recently that the news is all negative and they have decided to ignore it.
I tried to remember if the news was more positive when I was a boy. I can't really say because I didn't pay a great deal of attention to it. I do recall that any Canadian celebrating a 100th birthday was something of a national celebration. There are currently 6000+ Canadians 100 years old or older, so now even that bit of positive news has dropped by the wayside.
It is a well-known fact that headlines in newspapers, along with radio and TV news are predominantly negative. Psychologists tell us that people simply find catastrophic happenings, negative events and political incompetence more intriguing than positive happenings and improvements which tend to be more gradual and less dramatic.
Apparently, most if not all of us are negatively charged. When was the last time you heard of, or saw a group of employees huddled in the corner of the lunch room having a coffee and gossiping about how great the boss, job and wages are?
So, how refreshing, in the midst of all the Duffy-ism, low oil prices and gloomy forecasts for the future, both politically and economically, to have 90-year-old, former United States president, Jimmy Carter come into the media limelight.
Seeing Carter walk energetically to the platform, take his place behind the microphone, simultaneously flashing a toothy smile, one might have thought he was about to announce another Nobel Prize nomination. That was however, not the case.
Fully lucid, he cheerily announced that having already undergone surgery for liver cancer, he will now be treated for brain cancer. He explained that he expects the cancer to appear in other parts of his body as well. Though the news was grim, his posture and presentation were positive and affirming and he said that he has not been experiencing anger or despair.
I expect that we've all seen people respond less favorably to less threatening situations. However, Carter also provided the key to his positive outlook during his physical downturn. He said, "I am perfectly at ease with whatever comes...this is in the hands of God." Carter explained that while he would be reducing his commitments, he will still continue to teach his Sunday school class at Maranatha Baptist Church.
Let me close with the passage of Scripture that Carter used for his inaugural speech as America's 39th president. "He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God" (Micah 6:8).
I guess even bad news can be good news if we have the right perspective.
Pastor Ross Helgeton Senior Pastor – Erskine Evangelical Free Church Phone: 403 – 742 – 5020 Email: revrh@telus.net