Good News - Bad News
Each morning I read some of the News that is available on the Internet. It is usually up-to-date and immediate. It is ‘fresher’ than the Newspaper. It is a quick and clean way to start your understanding for what is happening around me.
I have made a radical change in this area – in that I used to listen to the News at the end of the day. By this admission alone it is not ‘News’ – but rather ‘Olds’. But calling it ‘Olds Broadcast’ isn’t the same as the ‘News Broadcast’. Or if the announcer says to the viewing audience, “We now take you to the ‘Olds Desk’ with Lisa telling us everything that happened yesterday. Lisa can you catch us up-to-date on what happened last week?”
In our area the News from last night is re-broadcast the next morning for all to hear… which makes it one more day older. Not my favorite program for sure. That is like reading a March 2004 Magazine at a Dentist’s Office in April of 2007.
Two things take place with the early morning News – 1.) You sleep better at night – not thinking about all that stuff that happened in the day(s) before. 2.) You begin your day ‘aware’ of your world.
But even at that early rising for the News – it is still ‘Olds’. I cannot know it until it has happened. Even the best on the spot reporting can only tell us, “Just moments ago the man was seen running from the scene. Let’s take a look at this footage shot moments ago where the man is running from the police…” Then the footage is re-played over and over again as News.
There is another interesting thing changing in my world of News. It is a simple fact – most News is not so good. It is reporting the worst that could happen in our imagination and then confirming that it did happen.
One example is a senior that I know very well. She is frightened of the West Nile virus and tries to maintain a strict regiment of doing the right things to prevent it from happening. When a ‘News’ report came that some one had been diagnosed of having this it upset her greatly. The person that was diagnosed with West Nile lives 1700 miles away.
I became aware of another example of the effect of Bad News when I met a couple that was vacationing in our cottage area near Peterborough this summer. They told me they from near Washington D.C., in the USA. They had come to Canada to rest in the clean, cool cottage area. Their thoughts had been to discover for the first time the pristine settings of Canada. The man made a statement that was interesting. He said, “It all looked so good in the pamphlets. Then after we got here and were listening to the Toronto News with all its reports about the shootings and violence – we are not so sure. It is worse than where we come from! Our home looks good beside this area.”
I had visions of this small family huddled in one corner of a small cottage with the door blocked in case the bad people of the News Reports headed their way.
A long time ago Alida and I traveled through Chicago, arriving there late in the evening. We had our young daughters with us and needed a place to sleep. While filling up with gas I asked the attendant where he might recommend a family could stay. I asked, “Where’s a good motel that we could stay the night.” He looked at me and said slowly, “My cousin from Iowa usually stays in this one next door. It is clean and quiet.” Then he continued with the “News”. “You don’t want to stay in the one across the street – or that one just down the way – both had murders take place last week. That one over there – someone was shot just last night. Not a good place at all…”
We checked in to the ‘motel next door’, unloaded our stuff, and then readied ourselves for bed. It was well past 10:30 PM and the girls were tired. Alida lay on the bed beside me. My eyes would not shut. I stared at the door for a long time. Then at about 12:00 AM I hoped out of bed and began pushing the clothes dresser and the chairs up to the door. I rearranged all the furniture to be up against the door – just incase the murderers would come knocking that night. I just finished the task and Alida looked up at me and asked, “What are you doing!!!?” My feeble reply was, “Just making us safe…” then I tried to sleep some that night.
The pile of furniture was kind of embarrassing in the morning. It was a feeble attempt to react to Bad News. If the man would have said, “Oh they are all good. No problems here at all. They are all clean and have the top rating in every tourist pamphlets.” I might have left the door open for some fresh air. But the Bad News changed my thinking…
It is funny now… but a real problem then.
On September 11, 2001 all of our worlds changed – we would never be the same again. The tragedy that struck our neighbours to the south in New York City – struck us all. The constant replay of the videos made of a plane crashing into the tall buildings was a nightmare that the News reports would drive home into our lives over and over again.
Just as you read these lines and then think 9-11, your mind is filled with that News report.
On 9-11 I was called by a local Senior’s Residence to come help them. As many wheel chairs as could be fit into the small chapel were brought in. The time was about 3:00 PM. Most of the residents had been sitting and watching the “News” reports that showed the crash and destruction over and over and over again. It began just after their breakfast and they had watched the News over and over again. The frightened people looked to me for some answers.
The launching of that war that day happened with the help of the “News”. Thousands died that day – which was a terrible tragedy. But News has not stopped there – for these past 6 years – thousands upon thousands have died in many countries as a result of that one fateful day – and its News.
Only Bad News seems to make the News.
Yesterday I watched the local News cast at our supper meal. The News announcer told us that a couple from the Toronto area has donated $1 Million to the local hospital. It was the largest single donation for the hospital. “We love this area…” was the statement made by the lady that presented the cheque. Everyone was beaming from ear to ear. Good News does that.
I was in a McDonald’s restaurant yesterday. I picked up my food and headed to the counter to pick up my condiments. There was a rack filled with News Papers where I retrieved the News for the day. There quietly working on the condiment counter was one of the young female staff. She had been directed away from serving the customers to the cleaning of the messy ketchup dispenser. I looked at her and said, “You know – this is Good News – you are the best cleaner in this place. If it wasn’t for you the floor would be a mess and this counter would not shine like this. This is Good News!”
Admittedly her response was a little odd. She looked over her shoulder to see if anyone else was there. Then quietly said, “Thank you.” The smile that she gave me was reward enough. Her dimples deepened and her smile widened. Good News does that.
Good news… or Bad news… is all around me. Good News is – Good. Bad News – makes me worry. Today I am going to look for a few more Good things. I need to fill myself some Good Stuff – tomorrow will have its own problems…
I know one thing for sure – God is not surprised by anything. That is the Good News today. I can stop worrying and start trusting Him more.
~ Pastor Murray Lincoln ~
Luke 12:22 – 28
22Then Jesus said to his disciples: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. 23Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. 24Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! 25Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? 26Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?
27"Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 28If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith!
I have made a radical change in this area – in that I used to listen to the News at the end of the day. By this admission alone it is not ‘News’ – but rather ‘Olds’. But calling it ‘Olds Broadcast’ isn’t the same as the ‘News Broadcast’. Or if the announcer says to the viewing audience, “We now take you to the ‘Olds Desk’ with Lisa telling us everything that happened yesterday. Lisa can you catch us up-to-date on what happened last week?”
In our area the News from last night is re-broadcast the next morning for all to hear… which makes it one more day older. Not my favorite program for sure. That is like reading a March 2004 Magazine at a Dentist’s Office in April of 2007.
Two things take place with the early morning News – 1.) You sleep better at night – not thinking about all that stuff that happened in the day(s) before. 2.) You begin your day ‘aware’ of your world.
But even at that early rising for the News – it is still ‘Olds’. I cannot know it until it has happened. Even the best on the spot reporting can only tell us, “Just moments ago the man was seen running from the scene. Let’s take a look at this footage shot moments ago where the man is running from the police…” Then the footage is re-played over and over again as News.
There is another interesting thing changing in my world of News. It is a simple fact – most News is not so good. It is reporting the worst that could happen in our imagination and then confirming that it did happen.
One example is a senior that I know very well. She is frightened of the West Nile virus and tries to maintain a strict regiment of doing the right things to prevent it from happening. When a ‘News’ report came that some one had been diagnosed of having this it upset her greatly. The person that was diagnosed with West Nile lives 1700 miles away.
I became aware of another example of the effect of Bad News when I met a couple that was vacationing in our cottage area near Peterborough this summer. They told me they from near Washington D.C., in the USA. They had come to Canada to rest in the clean, cool cottage area. Their thoughts had been to discover for the first time the pristine settings of Canada. The man made a statement that was interesting. He said, “It all looked so good in the pamphlets. Then after we got here and were listening to the Toronto News with all its reports about the shootings and violence – we are not so sure. It is worse than where we come from! Our home looks good beside this area.”
I had visions of this small family huddled in one corner of a small cottage with the door blocked in case the bad people of the News Reports headed their way.
A long time ago Alida and I traveled through Chicago, arriving there late in the evening. We had our young daughters with us and needed a place to sleep. While filling up with gas I asked the attendant where he might recommend a family could stay. I asked, “Where’s a good motel that we could stay the night.” He looked at me and said slowly, “My cousin from Iowa usually stays in this one next door. It is clean and quiet.” Then he continued with the “News”. “You don’t want to stay in the one across the street – or that one just down the way – both had murders take place last week. That one over there – someone was shot just last night. Not a good place at all…”
We checked in to the ‘motel next door’, unloaded our stuff, and then readied ourselves for bed. It was well past 10:30 PM and the girls were tired. Alida lay on the bed beside me. My eyes would not shut. I stared at the door for a long time. Then at about 12:00 AM I hoped out of bed and began pushing the clothes dresser and the chairs up to the door. I rearranged all the furniture to be up against the door – just incase the murderers would come knocking that night. I just finished the task and Alida looked up at me and asked, “What are you doing!!!?” My feeble reply was, “Just making us safe…” then I tried to sleep some that night.
The pile of furniture was kind of embarrassing in the morning. It was a feeble attempt to react to Bad News. If the man would have said, “Oh they are all good. No problems here at all. They are all clean and have the top rating in every tourist pamphlets.” I might have left the door open for some fresh air. But the Bad News changed my thinking…
It is funny now… but a real problem then.
On September 11, 2001 all of our worlds changed – we would never be the same again. The tragedy that struck our neighbours to the south in New York City – struck us all. The constant replay of the videos made of a plane crashing into the tall buildings was a nightmare that the News reports would drive home into our lives over and over again.
Just as you read these lines and then think 9-11, your mind is filled with that News report.
On 9-11 I was called by a local Senior’s Residence to come help them. As many wheel chairs as could be fit into the small chapel were brought in. The time was about 3:00 PM. Most of the residents had been sitting and watching the “News” reports that showed the crash and destruction over and over and over again. It began just after their breakfast and they had watched the News over and over again. The frightened people looked to me for some answers.
The launching of that war that day happened with the help of the “News”. Thousands died that day – which was a terrible tragedy. But News has not stopped there – for these past 6 years – thousands upon thousands have died in many countries as a result of that one fateful day – and its News.
Only Bad News seems to make the News.
Yesterday I watched the local News cast at our supper meal. The News announcer told us that a couple from the Toronto area has donated $1 Million to the local hospital. It was the largest single donation for the hospital. “We love this area…” was the statement made by the lady that presented the cheque. Everyone was beaming from ear to ear. Good News does that.
I was in a McDonald’s restaurant yesterday. I picked up my food and headed to the counter to pick up my condiments. There was a rack filled with News Papers where I retrieved the News for the day. There quietly working on the condiment counter was one of the young female staff. She had been directed away from serving the customers to the cleaning of the messy ketchup dispenser. I looked at her and said, “You know – this is Good News – you are the best cleaner in this place. If it wasn’t for you the floor would be a mess and this counter would not shine like this. This is Good News!”
Admittedly her response was a little odd. She looked over her shoulder to see if anyone else was there. Then quietly said, “Thank you.” The smile that she gave me was reward enough. Her dimples deepened and her smile widened. Good News does that.
Good news… or Bad news… is all around me. Good News is – Good. Bad News – makes me worry. Today I am going to look for a few more Good things. I need to fill myself some Good Stuff – tomorrow will have its own problems…
I know one thing for sure – God is not surprised by anything. That is the Good News today. I can stop worrying and start trusting Him more.
~ Pastor Murray Lincoln ~
Luke 12:22 – 28
22Then Jesus said to his disciples: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. 23Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. 24Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! 25Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? 26Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?
27"Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 28If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith!
posted by Murray Lincoln at
Friday, September 07, 2007
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