Perspectives, Part 2     
Bad Things Happen     
 

   If you missed Tuesday's blog, go back. 

It previews today, tomorrow and Thursday. 

   Today begins our search for perspective on the trials of life - from incurable disease to man-made tragedy to "acts of God." 

   Right perspective can bring peace. Wrong viewpoints leave us with worry, anxiety, anger, depression...even hopelessness. 

   The first unhappy event: Adam and Eve were evicted from the Garden of Eden. 
Okay, they deserved it. 

   Then their second son murdered their first born. In time, only Noah and his family were spared the flood that remains the "granddaddy" of them all. 

   Famine forced Abram and Sarai to flee to Egypt, on foot, of course. Jacob had to move far from his angry brother; later, he fled his angry father-in-law, heading back to the land where his brother was waiting. 

   These were God's chosen people. Are we having a bad day?

   Dad's favorite, innocent Joseph, was sold into slavery by his jealous brothers. Wrongly accused in Egypt, he spent two years in prison. 

   When a severe famine menaced the world, Jacob's other sons went to Egypt, twice, the second time never to return home. 

   Under a new Pharaoh, Jacob's descendants, the Israelites, endured oppression and slavery for 430 years! 

   Unnerved by the slaves' growing numbers, Pharaoh ordered all male babies killed at birth. When the mid-wives secretly defied his order, he demanded that male babies be thrown in the river.

   Baby Moses' mother put him in the river, in a basket. When Moses was older, he made a big mistake and had to flee into the wilderness where he stayed until age 80. 

Tomorrow: Free, but no picnic

      Jimmy