Un-rotten World

“I was starting to think the whole world was rotten,” Dean said.

But two Christians, Lucy and Corky, squelched his spiraling-to-hopeless thoughts. They will probably never meet Dean. And all he was seeing was his three children now attired in new winter coats. Provided free by Lucy and Corky.

Dean has had beyond his share of bad shakes in life. The rotten-side of humanity had broken into his car while it was parked in his driveway a few nights earlier. This, with everything else he sees, cast a bleakness over his attitude.

But then the un-rotten side of humanity arose. Lucy and Corky had felt compelled to buy winter coats for the community’s needy. They approached a local clothing distributor about a “deal.”

Now they had their criteria: “We don’t want any unpopular styles. You know—leftovers.” They wanted the good stuff. And they got it. Five-thousand dollars worth of warm, stylish coats. Then they passed them onto a local charity, fading into obscurity with one request: “For children only.”

Sometimes though, it’s hard not to agree with Dean. Thinking: “We live in a rotten world.” Which continues to decay.

The Bible says: “The ways of right-living people glow with light; the longer they live, the brighter they shine. But the road of wrongdoing gets darker and darker…”

The Bible warns us to expect the world to become darker and rottener as the end approaches. But Jesus’ followers are to counter this. They are to be brighter and brighter. Shining with God’s hope.

Dean was smiling big and bright: “Thank you so much.” While Lucy and Corky didn’t hear his words, I’m sure they would say, “Thank God.”

Reminding us of Jesus’ words: “Let your light so shine before people, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in Heaven.”