Romans 8: 26-39, John 1:5, Psalm 30:11, 1 Peter 3:15, Revelation 21:4

Richard Townend

The penny dropped on 25th August. I was on an Easyjet plane flying between Paris and Glasgow, but it was the book I read on the journey which delivered the sucker punch.

And ironically, it was a young boy called Rocky who dealt the knockout blow.

We live in a fallen world.

That is the penny that finally dropped.

OK, so I'm not teaching you anything new here. You may even be questioning why I'm commissioned to write these articles if I have been floored by such a basic concept. But stay with me.

I have always struggled with the fallen world argument. I don't deny that bad stuff goes on. It just seems that, praise God, it hasn't really affected me yet.

And that is the heart of my problem. I live a comfortable life. I have a beautiful wife. I have a wonderful daughter and another child on the way. I have a home and mortgage. A car. A Nintendo Wii. A sausage dog. I am not fully aware of the deep need I have for God, because to be quite honest, sometimes I think I can manage without Him. I am living the western dream and am only now beginning to rise from my slumber.

But enough about me. What about Rocky?

At age 4½ Rocky was diagnosed with a stage IV Neuroblastoma and given three weeks to live. With a lot of prayer and excellent clinical care, Rocky lived almost 3 years, passing his 7th birthday by six weeks.

But his was a tragic story of a life cut short. His father Stephen Redman, a pastor in York has recently written a book about that chapter in the family's life. It has taken him almost ten years to put pen to paper, but the book is one of the most moving, down to earth and profound testimonies I have ever read.

In it, and whilst Rocky was at an advanced stage of his illness, Stephen visited America, and decided to attend a church one day. The preacher was talking about a funeral of a child cancer victim. He described it as God's will that the child had died as some members of the family had found Christ in the months following the funeral.

Battling with the emotions of his sick son and his faith, Stephen felt he had to interrupt.

'I began to preach,' he writes. 'I told how that cancer was not a result of the will of God but of the fall of man. I said that all evil in the world had come about because of our rebellion and that God did not make us sick to bring about something better. In fact the Bible tells us in Roman 8:28 that in all things God is working for the good of those who love Him. It was in the evil of cancer and in the horror of bereavement that God turned things around for good by drawing people close to him. It worked out well, but not because the cancer was from God - it worked out well despite the cancer!'

Let's ponder on Romans 8:28. 'And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.'