Life Going A-Rye? Eat Bread.

Today, I received an email from the University of Nebraska Medical Center that I will not be offered an interview for PA school. This past Friday Des Moines University and University of South Dakota said no as well. Denver was way ahead of the band wagon and turned me down a couple weeks ago. As I plop down into a puddle of self-pity, I look up once again to see that handgun pointing between my eyes and some desperate (or greedy) Guatemalan asking for my mochila. There are bigger problems in the world than me not making it into PA school and a myriad of blessings that are even bigger still.

Isn’t it more often the case that we choose to wear blinders as we walk the road of despair? We, like Naomi, will call ourselves empty even as a dedicated companion walks the road with us. In all reality, I have never really had it bad. Yes, there are times when we may feel our heart fall through our chest and rupture like a water balloon on the floor. Even in those times, to ask “why God lets bad things happen to good people” would still be inappropriate. In the movie, The Shawshank Redemption, Andy Dufresne is convicted of murdering his wife and is sentenced to life in prison as punishment. During his time in Shawshank, Andy says that “whatever mistakes he has made, he has paid for and then some”. By our sense of justice, he may be right, but by our debt of sin to God, that will never be the case. We really are like one who has committed murder and has been pardoned from prison or lethal injection. More than not being punished as we deserved, we also have been given more than we deserve. It is like we have been given pardon for murdering several people, and then given a free car to drive and a house to live in. The only person who got worse than he deserved was Christ. Perhaps he would be like one of the EMS personal who came to the shooting where we murdered several people, but he saved the life of two children who were only injured by our rampage. After saving their lives, he was immediately put in cuffs and, merely weeks later, was executed. The amazing thing is that he did it all in complete willingness (Isa 50:6, Mt 26:39). So what reason do I REALLY have for being grumpy at God for not letting me into PA school?