Are things ever actually as bad as they seem? Or are things really much worse than we ever imagined? As Christians we have never been promised that life will be smooth and easy. What we have been promised is the assurance of God's presence in our lives through good times and bad, in prosperity and poverty, in our strength and in our weakness.

"Good news/bad news" jokes are a common humorous form used to reveal both sides of life's little complexities. Contrary to the traditional joke form, however, columnist L.M. Boyd reports that 63% of people prefer to hear bad news first when they are given "good news/bad news." Boyd claims this preference stems from our childhood training when we were told we must first eat all our broccoli before we could have our chocolate cake.

The sixth chapter o…