Acting upon instructions, a man called his doctor to get the results of diagnostic tests which he had undergone.  When the doctor answered, the patient identified himself.  There was a hesitation on the doctor's end of the line. Finally, he said quietly, “There's bad news and worse news."

The patient gulped and said, "Might as well give me the bad news first."

“Well," said the doctor, "the tests indicate that you have 24 hours to live."

The patient gasped, "Oh, my god, what news could possibly be worse than that?"

Came the doctor's reply, "I tried to reach you yesterday."[1]

That's a take-off on the many bad news, good news stories that are going around.  They are popular because life is a strange mixture of bad news and good news.  It's that way because we persons are a strange mixture of good and evil.  At times, we rise to the heights of angels, and then we do that which looks like the devil has control.

That's the tension -- to stay aware of the forces that battle for dominance in our lives, to choose the best, -- but above all, to know that god will empower us to be and do that we are created to be and do.

1. Donald Shelby, "one, two, three -- God", March 30, 1986