Just when I thought the news was all bad, the stock market reversed itself yesterday in remarkable fashion.  As you know, the Dow Jones dove nearly 250 points in the opening minutes, spent the day in a series of ups and downs, then closed up with a gain of nearly 300 points.  Not many people understand why, but we're all grateful.

Meanwhile, today's New York Times reports that Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis arrived in Turkey yesterday for the first official visit by a Greek leader since 1959.  Having traveled widely in both countries, I know firsthand the decades of mutual hostility between the nations.  They have fought four wars since Greece won its independence from the Ottoman Empire in the 1820s.  But Wednesday's diplomatic breakthrough bodes well for the future of the volatile region.

The strangest good news of the morning comes from USAToday, which informs us that a horse advertised in Michigan isn't going to be eaten after all.  Kristen DeGroat placed the ad for Foxy, her three-year-old mare, expecting it to appear under "Horses and Stables."  The newspaper mistakenly ran it under "Good Things to Eat."  She got 60 calls; 40 people were upset, but 20 actually wanted to buy horse meat.  Fortunately, a man bought Foxy for his grandchildren to ride.  Now you can eat breakfast after all.

Yesterday I found this passage, and thought it appropriate to these days: "Consider what God has done: Who can straighten what he has made crooked?  When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other.  Therefore, a man cannot discover anything about his future" (Ecclesiastes 7:13-14).

I sometimes wonder if times were always this unpredictable.  We are astonished by technological advances and the changes they bring, but my parents were just as affected by television and the proliferation of commercial airlines.  And their parents were just as affected by radio and the advent of automobiles.  We are at war, but my father fought in World War II and his father in World War I.  Human nature doesn't really change.  None of us can see Friday from Thursday.  If Solomon couldn't discover anything about his future, I shouldn't be surprised by the morning news.

The good news is that God already has a plan to redeem whatever this day brings.  Romans 8:28 doesn't say that everything is good, but it does promise that our Father will bring good from anything we trust to his care.  Self-sufficiency is spiritual suicide.  Spirit-dependence is spiritual victory.  Which describes your day so far?

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