….you meant it for evil against me, but God meant it for good.
Genesis 50:20
I never imagined this turn of events.
Eight months ago I was needing a good cover for a book I recently wrote called, God Writes A Better Story. A captivating and interesting cover design was my pursuit. Initial mock ups from the publisher were less than inspiring.
A talented local artist friend, William Butler, has the ability to vividly communicate hope and promise through his paintings. So I turned to his website in search of an image to adorn the book’s jacket. Ironically, after scrolling the pages, my attention was drawn to a photograph rather than one of his exceptional paintings. A simple photo of the pants William wears in his studio—covered in paint—best captured the essence of the publication. Colored blotches of acrylics, speckled over time across his denim jeans, told a story of its own and evoked the spirit of the book.
And the book, after all, was a collection of stories. Stories about God entering the messiness of human lives and creating something better—just as an artist creates a pictorial story by uniting and mixing disparate colors together. Enthusiastically, William granted permission to use the photo. Our book was published. Readers were drawn to the unique cover. Months passed.
Then six weeks ago I received a surprising and jolting text from William’s wife, Ronja. After experiencing acute pain in the abdomen, William had been rushed to the ER where doctor’s discovered a malignant tumor in his bladder—the size of a tennis ball. A devastating prognosis. A radical cystectomy recommended. Life never to be the same. Five years to live—at best. Then a line I can’t forget.
“They think William’s exposure to the toxins in the paints over that past 40 years,” added Ronja “may have contributed to the cancer.”
Our book cover now told a different story! Could the juxtaposition between the title and the developing reality of William’s health be any more contradictory? Think about it: Blue jeans splattered with artist paints….toxins…..bladder cancer….God Writes A Better Story….really? Nothing was good or “better” about William’s diagnosis. If people understood the causes of William’s condition, dismissing the book as wishful thinking would be a reasonable act. Just another Christian writer trying to perpetuate a theological myth untethered from reality.
But the premise of the book argues something quite different. It argues that people of faith aren’t immune from illness, hardship, poverty, economic downturns, pandemics, broken relationships, crushed dreams. Being human can be brutal. Pain, suffering and sickness are part of this mortal package—whether one believes in God or not.
So the critical and existential question becomes: in these dark and despairing moments, can God really enter our lives and write something better? Not necessarily an easier story. Not a painless story. Not a story void of fear and uncertainty. Just a better story. Deeper. More redemptive. More purposed. More impactful. More hopeful.
I think the answer is unequivocally yes. It’s really at the core of what I believe. It’s the belief that no matter the zip code we grow up in, what we’ve done in our lives, our family situations or our current circumstances we can choose to invite God into whatever crappy, difficult, despairing, seemingly hopeless moment we’re encountering and write something….better. A story we cannot begin to imagine.
And that’s what has happened with William and Ronja Butler. Last weekend I received a 21 page letter from Ronja chronicling—in detail—the account of how God has entered this difficult moment in their lives and is writing the better story. It hasn’t been easy. There’s been moments of tears and fear.
But each page of the letter is a testimony to the better story. Ronja & William providing comfort and praying with a fear-filled patient awaiting a life altering diagnosis. Ronja and William inviting a nurse to church who had given up on God. Ronja and William encouraging doctors and medical technicians with their faith. Ronja and William receiving the unexpected benevolence and charity of strangers who lavishly provided help. Twenty one pages. Twenty one pages of a bad story becoming better.
And so we inch deeper into Holy Week. Easter bunny’s and chocolate eggs distract us from the potentiality of this life changing event. Yes, the death of Jesus is a brutal story filled with betrayal, violence, broken hearts, crushed expectations and the premature death of a man in the prime of his life.
But in the midst of the brutality one truth rises: no matter how bad it gets, if we can make space for God, the story can become….better.
Keep the faith.
Bruce Main
Founder & Executive Director
PS. Some great news. Looks like the cancer did not spread beyond the bladder. The cystectomy is not needed. The remaining part of the tumor is dissolving. William is gaining strength.