Currently Reading Reaching for the Invisible God By Philip Yancey see related

i took a break from reading this book over the holidays. now i'm back and reading lots again!

here's an excerpt that explains very well why bad things happen on this earth, but that ultimately good can and will triumph.

in highschool, i took pride in my ability to play chess. i joined the chess club and during lunch hour could be found sitting at a table with other nerds poring over books with titles like classic king pawn openings. i studied techniques, won most of my matches, and put the game aside for twenty years. then, in chicago, i met a chess player who had been perfecting his skills long since high school. when we played a few matches, i learned what it is like to play against a master. any classic offense i tried, he countered with a classic defense. if i turned to more risky, unorthodox techniques, he incorporated my bold forays into his winning strategies. even apparent mistakes he worked to his advantage. i would gobble up an unprotected knight, only to discover he had planted it there as a sacrificial lure, part of some grand design. although i had complete freedom to make any move i wished, i soon reached the conclusion that none of my strategies mattered very much. his superior skill guaranteed that my purposes inevitably ended up serving his own.

perhaps God engages our universe, his creation, in much the same way. he grants us freedome to rebel against his original design, yet even as we do so we end up "ironically" serving his eventual goal of restoration. if i accept that blueprint - a huge step of faith, i confess - it transforms how i view both good and bad things that happen. good things, such as health, talent, money, i can present to God as offerings for his use. and bad things too - disability, poverty, family dysfunctions, failures - can be "redeemed" as the very instruments that drive me to God.