There are 3 questions each one of us needs to ask ourselves many, many times over.

Who is the author of life?

What is the story?

And what part do I play in this story called life?

We look around at the injustice and our eyes are filled with devastating headlines. We see people hungry, angry, even losing their minds. Suffering is at every turn, even in our own lives and we wonder what is the purpose of all of this pain? Will it ever go away? Where is the hope?

But what if?????

Each new day is a choice of only two. Will I play the good guy or the bad guy in the greatest story that has ever and will ever be told? It’s so simple, good or evil. You don’t go to the casting director and say, ” I know I played the good guy yesterday but today I feel bad, I think I want to play the bad guy.” If you do bad things, then you are the bad guy, period. Now we all have questions, opinions, and convictions on what we consider bad which brings me back to my first question. Who is the author? What does the author say about good and bad?

Here are two scenarios to ponder…

You find out someone you thought was your friend has been gossiping about you.

A breaking headline reveals a man in your city has been abducting children and severely abusing them

Which one is bad? Both, One, Neither

Each one of us is responsible for ourselves but often we don’t think enough about the story unless things are going according to the part we choose (freewill) to play? Is it possible  when the story takes an unexpected turn we didn’t intend it to take, that we manipulate the story line through our own cracked lens’ and how we think it should play out. “No, no, no there cannot be any children getting hurt in this story, so we mark that part out with a red pen. Makes perfect sense. Most of all would never even imagine hurting a child. Yet, how often do we hurt another life through our cracked lens’ of carelessness, unwise choices, selfishness, or revenge whether big or small?

Could it be possible that the story is not even about us? Though without our part the story wouldn’t be complete. Most of us love a happy ending. In the beginning of a book, a movie, or song there is a dilemma, a problem, a heart broken. It draws us in and we wait with anticipation for the light to pierce through the darkness. The solution to the dilemma. The answer to the problem. The healing to the broken. Maybe we are the solution, the answer, the healing. If my dilemma was solved, then I could help you solve yours. If your answer came then I can have hope mine will come too. If you went on to love again then so can I.

So today I ask you, are you going to play the bad guy or the good because you cannot be both. You do have a choice and when you choose good, you radically change the lives of others and even your own for the better. If you choose bad the same thing will happen but with a vastly different landscape and consequences. The greatest story that will ever be told stars you and me. And as the story goes, the good guy always prevails in the end.