Good News Bad News

 

Good news! Don came in to let me know the good news of a recording job Mhairi has got. We all have to be very quiet – or leave the premises perhaps! – for half an hour this afternoon as she fulfils the contract.

The trouble with starting out with the words, ‘Good news’, is that in my head, I hear the beginning of a joke. A good news/bad news joke. I can’t hear the good news without a silent anticipation that there might be bad news to follow.

Sure enough. As if to prove my point, within an hour our internet had crashed. Consternation all round as Doug, calm and skilled, worked to get us back online in time for this afternoon’s commitment.

My reaction, when the internet went down, was to finish breakfast, have another coffee, and retreat to my room to pray. And so I want to praise God, for giving Doug the wisdom to find and fix the problem. I know that, in the big scheme of things in the world, our internet is small potatoes. But to this household, this morning, it matters. Thanks be to God, who answers prayer, both the big prayers and the small ones.

May he answer yours today, too.

That’s the thing, isn’t it? That the word ‘gospel’ means ‘good news’, and God’s good news is the last word. There is no bad news coming from him.