Have you graduated yet? Have you moved on to the next grade? Are you in the upper levels of your spiritual formation? I’m not. Combining our text in Romans this week with James 1:2, I’m reminded that I have some room to grow. Paul wrote that we “glory in tribulations,” and James wrote, “Count it all joy when you fall into various trials.” I don’t. I really don’t like trials or tribulations. I don’t like inconvenience or discomfort. Our culture is working around the clock to remove trouble from our lives attempting to guarantee us all life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. But, these annoying troubles keep popping up. Cold weather. Sickness. Financial troubles. Family dysfunction. Disease. Chipmunks. Was something wrong with those writers of Bible verse or is there something wrong with me? I really do think it is me. I am still learning that trouble is normal in this world and it cannot be eliminated no matter what we do. But, since God is good and He loves us, He turns evil to good! He can do things with the junk in our lives that we never imagined possible. Using the trouble, God can expose weaknesses and life-sucking problems that will ruin our lives if they remain. When we join Him in “turning this mess into something beautiful,” we’ll begin to see how rejoicing is possible. If we could only see that on the front end of our troubles rather than after they are over. Do you want to try it with me? Shall we rejoice in our tribulations believing that God has something incredible that He wants to do in us? Let’s try. It has to be better than complaining about everything.