News

Managers have a problem.  Nobody likes to be the bearer of bad news.  I have yet to find one member of the team that willingly tells me the bad things that have, are, or might happen.  Far too many stories of news bearers being punished for the news they carried are etched in our minds.  We may have never known a former messenger, but the epic movies from Greek and Roman times taught us a lesson.  Those who carry bad news do so at the risk of their lives!  In the old days, out came the sword!  In modern times, individuals simply loose their jobs or walk with a block cloud surrounding their name and reputation.
There is an extremely sad extension of our natural response to bad news.  Unless we are confident that the news is good, it is natural to assume that the news is bad.  Progress updates come as love fests, status reports are only positive, and evaluation tell how everything is working.  Fears, uncertainties, doubts, gaps, and deficiencies are hidden, disguised, or masked.  Spin reigns!  There is no such thing as an honest story.  Everything is wrapped in an agenda, purpose, and motive.
I find God inviting us into a different type of conversation.  God loves our honesty!  Bad news is good news in God’s eyes.  Anger, screams, and tears are honest reactions to our views of life in the moment.  God can be present in and with our honesty.  Anything else is a wall between Divinity and us. 
The reality, in life and with God, is simple this; hidden news is never hidden forever.  It is simply a matter of timing.  Bad news with projects always emerges by the time of the deadline.  Divinity knows the inside even before we do.  Hidden news is merely an act of living in the twisted world of our imagination.
In the midst of the bad news, there is a thread and opportunity we should remember.  “Break into song!  Boom it out, ruins of Jerusalem: ‘God has comforted his people!  He's redeemed Jerusalem!’”  (Isaiah 52.9)