In a memorable episode of Star Trek The Next Generation, the Android, Data, is having a conversation with his human friend.
The friend, describing a catastrophe, said, “It was disastrous.” Data, who only could process data, searched his data base and then looked puzzled. Finally, he said, “Unexpected. You mean it was unexpected.”
Most things in life that we categorize as catastrophic, disastrous, terrible, outrageous, etc, all come under Data’s category of “unexpected.”
What really counts is what happens next. After the unexpected comes renewed hope. We may not be able to go the way we planned, but we can go another way.
I love Paul’s perspective. He acknowledged things were rough, but he was not defeated. He may have been weak, but God in Him was strong. He pressed on toward a brighter tomorrow!
“We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.
We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed.
We are perplexed, but not driven to despair.
We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God.
We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed.
Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.”
2 Corinthians 4:7-10
