There were two men having a trip together. They brought a donkey to carry their things, a torch to brighten the road at night and a chicken, which was a donkey's friend. The chicken sat on the donkey's head during the trip.

One of the two men was very religious, while the other one was the unbeliever. Along the way, they were having conversation about God.

"God is so good," said the first one.

"Well, we'll see if you still think the same during this trip," said the second.

When the nightfall, they reached a small village and they were looking for a place to sleep. They have been looking everywhere yet no one would want to take them in. So they had to continue their trip out of the village and decided to sleep there.

"I thought you said that God is good," said the second one cynically.

"God has decided that this is the best place for us to sleep," explained the first one.

They put their tent under a big tree, beside the road to the village and tied the donkey five metres away from their tent. When they were going to light the torch, they heard some noise. A lion attacked the donkey, dragged and ate it. They promptly climbed the tree to survive.

"You still think that God is good?" asked the second man angrily.

"Hadn't the lion killed the donkey, we would have been eaten. God is good," said the first.

A second later, they heard the sound of their chicken. From the tree, they could see that a big cat attacked the chicken and dragged it everywhere.

Before the second man said anything, the first man said, "The sound of the chicken saved us once again. God is good."

A few minutes later, a big wind blew off their thorch which was the only thing that kept them warm. Once again, the second one mocked his friend.

"Apparently, God's kindness has been working on us all night," he said.

The first man said nothing.

The next morning, the two men went back to the village for food. Soon they found out that there were some robbers attacked the village and robbed the whole village.

Knowing that, the first man said, "Now it's clear. God is really good. Had we spent the night here, we would have been robbed along with other people. Had the wind not blown our thorch, the robbers, who passed the street near us, would have seen us and robbed us too. It is so clear that God is good."

Reviews:
** [Aug 23, 2005] by Phil
So, what happened to the poor people in the village who were robbed? I guess God was not so good to the entire village for letting them be robbed.

How about the donkey and the chicken? I guess God was really bad to them for letting them be eaten by wild animals.

Anything that occurs in this world operates on the "zero sum" principle. When something good happens to you, something bad happens to other people. When someone wins, someone else loses. That's how it works.

It's easy to credit God for things or events that you consider advantageous to you, because at that moment you're forgetting other people's sufferings.

***** [Nov 26, 2004] by Jon
True!!! GOD IS GOOD, ALL THE TIME...

**** [Oct 07, 2004] by Herman
The Lord is Good & Glorious.