For the Best

Yesterday in church, I heard a couple of stories. Think maybe I should tell you one of them now and the other tomorrow? Here it is, as close as I can remember it:

There was once a king who liked to hunt and have a good time. Among his courtiers, there was one man the king counted as a friend, though this man had a habit that annoyed the king: anytime anything happened, this man would proclaim it "for the best."

A hunting dog ran off? The man said it was for the best! Maybe he sprained his ankle? It was for the best! The king accidentally blew off one of his fingers in an accident with the guns that were new to the kingdom? For the best!

It was this last thing that made the king lose his temper. "How can you say me losing my finger is for the best!? I'll teach you to say everything is for the best!" The king threw the man in prison, and eventually, the king even forgot about his friend.

One day, the king was going hunting alone. He stumbled across a group of cannibals who tied him up and promptly started a fire to boil some water. They had every intention of eating the king.

...Until they started examining him, to ensure he was fit to eat. They noticed his missing finger.

Certain he was some kind of monster that would make them all sick if they ate him, the cannibals turned the king loose.

The king, fully aware of why he was released, remembered his friend in prison. The king quickly freed the man and apologized profusely. "I should never have put you in prison! I'm so sorry!"

 "Oh, it was for the best!" the man cheerfully replied.

"How can you say that this time!?" the king snapped, upset that his friend would make light of such a terrible mistake.

"Well, just think," the man responded in all seriousness. "If you hadn't thrown me in jail, I would have gone with you on that hunting trip. Since I don't have any fingers missing, I would've been eaten for sure!"

Kind of long for a blog post, but I wanted to share that story and this next one with you. For this story, the Bible verse that prompted it was Romans 8:28.