This is good

I heard the story about a king in Africa who had a close friend that he had grown up with. The friend had a habit of looking at every situation that ever occurred in his life, positive or negative, and said, "this is good!"

One day the king and his friend were out on a hunting expedition. The friend would load and prepare the guns for the king. The friend had apparently done something wrong in preparing one of the guns, for after taking the gun
from his friend, the king fired it and his thumb was blown off.

Examining the situation the friend remarked as usual, "this is good!"  towhich the king replied, "no, this is not good!" and proceeded to send  his friend to jail.

About a year later, the king was hunting in an area that he should haveknown to stay clear of. Cannibals captured him and took them to their village. They tied his hands, stacked some wood, set up a stake and bound him to the stake. As they came near to set fire to the wood, they noticed that the king was missing a thumb. Being superstitious, they never ate anyone that was
less than whole. So untying the king, they sent him on his way.

As he returned home, he was reminded of the event that had taken his thumb and felt remorse for his treatment of his friend. He went immediately to the jail to speak with his friend. "You were right" he said, "it was good that my thumb was blown off." and he proceeded to tell the friend
all that had just happened. "and so I am very sorry for sending you to jail for so long. It was bad for me to do this."

"No," his friend replied, "this is good!"

"What do you mean, 'this is good!' how could it be good that I sent my friend to jail for a year."

"If I had not been in jail, I would have been with you."

We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. {Romans 8:28}