It could be around the block or across the world far away; but it would still be either good or bad; positive or negative, welcomed or not. We call it bad , catastrophic, ill or other negative news words to describe our news. On the contrary, we talk about good news and assign words like wonderful, thankful, great and other positive expressions. Seldom do we hear about the middle ground news. I don't believe anyone would stand on the middle ground for long. It's not "good or bad" so it's not interesting. Depending on how invested we are the range of positive or negative news, we have our alert system that is kicked in. We call, text or just talk to others who we know will be sympathetic with our problem. In the same light we can be overwhelmed to inaction or underwhelmed to the point of boredom. Perhaps the image of a snow day from work or school can best fit both of the examples.
When I was a kid I loved snow days. They were few and far between in the hardy world of North Dakota! If there is a chance of a single flake falling here in Washington, the schools will begin closing from various school districts. When it does snow, life comes to a full stop! People use storms threatened or real as an excuse to buy out the water supply in the store and enough groceries to take care of their families for 3 or 4 months. All of this because someone made a situation an event. The weathermen (I don't know what weather females are called.) take every moment to bring the smallest chance of hardship into a "The sky is falling!" situation. The worse they make it the more viewers the will have. And most people either expectantly look forward to the situation or fearfully look at the ensuing problems that may arise. I think that's what people meant when they said "making a mountain of a molehill."
Distressing news for some is glad news for others. For instance, you are a bugler and you have just burglarized my home. I come home and I'm distressed! The police tell me they caught you with my stuff. Now I'm relieved and you are distressed. The police who caught you are happy but distressed over the writing of reports that can take hours. Consider Jesus being accused by those who wished to kill him. Those individuals and groups were distressed at what Jesus was doing to areas where they maintained control over the people who were becoming relieved the more Jesus did. Finally they killed him and felt relieved that the job was done and over with. Then they heard about the empty tomb and became even more distressed than they were before. This back and forth is enough to stress out the distressed person inside of each of us. Just spotting a police car behind most of us is enough to distress anyone.
So we go through life in a series of stress/distress that affects the smallest part of our lives along with the biggest part of our lives. So does everyone else each in his/her own way. The issue we want to address today is the result of the stress and distress in our lives. We know that a storm is coming and we brace for the storm even before we learn that the storm is going to pass us by. We hear that someone has been in an auto accident and taken to the hospital. The first questions from us is whether anyone died or not. We then move onto the person taken to the hospital. How bad (not how good) are they and what can be done? The one element these examples bring up is what is distressing. There is no expectation of good news even though often there is wonderful news. That good news is sometimes delayed until...say...Sunday! That's right, Jesus rose from the dead. He is alive!!! The disciples took a bit longer to connect the dots. They too, eventually, were elated at the good news that came from distressing news. There is always one that spoils the party. Thomas said that until he touches Jesus' hands and side that he won't believe. Kind of like us.
We don't need to distress as much as we do. We need to be relieved because God is in control. The worst that can happen to me is that I die and go to heaven. That's not so bad! In fact that is good! Rejoice in the good and thank God for his faithfulness. Not all distressing news or actions mean a negative. It's all just a matter of how you think and what you think.
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