The Book of Jeremy

That night I was telling my older brother, Simeon, of the terrible thing that Thomas had done to me, “He’s ruining my life!”

Simeon chuckled. “You mean it could get worse?”

Dad’s tall figure filled the doorway “Who has that much power over you?”

“What?”

“You said someone was ruining your life. I want to know who you are giving that much power to. No one can ruin your life unless you let them.”

I began to protest, but Dad squelched it. “Listen to me, Jeremy. God is in control, right?”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“That has to do with everything. Answer me. Is God in control or not?”

“I guess. Why?”

Dad sighed, “OK, so, God is in control of everything all the time. Now answer me. Does God love you?”

I squinted at him. Where was he going with this? “I was talking about how a guy dissed me at school …”

“Answer my question, does God love you?”

I wagged my head and sang. “The Bible tells me so.”

Dad raised his eyebrows.

I sighed deeply and nodded. “Yes, Jesus loves me. ”

“I want you to think about this; God has all power, and He loves you, so how can anyone at your school have the power to ruin your life?”

I jumped right back into my story, “This stupid Thomas yells in my ear right when I am going to make a basket. What do you call that?”

“Well, I don’t know, what did you do to him?”

“I chased after him, but the teacher stopped me before I caught him.”

“Now tell me what you did before all of this.”

“What?”

“Had you done anything to him earlier that might have upset him?”

“You always turn things around and make it look like it’s my fault!”

“Think about it, Jeremy, and think about this; God is in control of this world and everything he allows into your life is for your good because He loves you. God never punishes us, but He does allow things into our lives to try to wake us up. Remember that. God trumps everyone; no one has the power to ruin your life.” He paused then added, “Now, get some sleep. Good night, Jeremy, I love you.”