Our Imperfectly Perfect Spring Break, Part 3
Graduation invites roll in, April showers turn our brown and drab Midwest winter to vibrant green, and Spring Break ’25 seems long gone. Although the page has turned to new events, there’s a truth we want to carry with us into the future: God can bring good out of bad. God can bring joy out of sad.
We saw him and we see him . . .
In the Sharks and Pompano
In April of ’24, we booked a fishing excursion for Spring Break ‘25. It was the day we expected would be the biggest highlight for the older kids. As the week drew nearer, we checked the fishing day forecast most every day. It looked like the weather would be even better than we could hope with beautiful temps and clear skies. Thank goodness the storm predicted the prior two days would be long gone.
Not exactly. . .
While the storm itself had cleared out, not so with its residual ocean effects. The waters needed time to calm, and it was deemed unsafe for offshore fishing. We were required to stay closer to land. Ugh. The outing we’d hoped and planned for wasn’t going to happen—the kids would be disappointed and not able to catch the deeper-sea fish we’d all talked about.
But, God. An hour into our morning shift, things looked bleak when all of a sudden, the first pole bent hard. Our grandson had caught a fish – not just any fish, but he had a shark on his line! A shark! The thought that our offshore fishing turned inshore could result in something better or more fun, wasn’t even a consideration. Yet here we were! Then we caught another and another, and ultimately, each of the kids in our morning group reeled in a shark. The afternoon crew, similarly, had huge success and even caught a Pompano in the inland waters.
The sharks and Pompano remind us that God can always take a hard, sad, stressful, and disappointing circumstance (things way more difficult than a fishing trip pivot) and bring good out of it. When we don’t understand why, when the hurt runs deep, and the hard days are relentless, we can endure through trust that God is up to something.
Romans 8:28 encourages, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (NIV). God can take our plans that go awry—and everything from a rough day to elongated suffering—and bring good out of it.
Habakkuk 1:5 declares, “For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told” (ESV). Our days might be painful, they might be long, they might be lonely, they might be full of fear over a diagnosis or an unnerving situation. But, we can trust the God who is “doing a work in our days,” who allows kids to reel in sharks and Pompanos—to be working on our behalf—even in the most devastating of times.
When rough seas rumble, when torrential winds blow, when our kids and grandkids are hurting (and therefore we’re hurting), and the storms of life crash against us in our post-Easter days, we can remember Joseph’s words to his brothers: “‘You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives’” (Genesis 50:20 NIV).
Through our observance of Good Friday and Easter this month, we’re reminded of the most severe suffering. Christ’s arrest, trial, and crucifixion serve as the most drastic picture of “good from evil.” The unthinkable, wicked maliciousness that jealous leaders imposed on Jesus was for the BEST, most GLORIOUS, most enduring RESCUE ever known to man-kind.
What others meant for evil in the cross, God used for our everlasting, un-retractable good.