Why do bad things happen to Good People?

This is sort of a build-on to my last post. The man I wrote about in 1 Kings, the one who had a spiritual experience of a lifetime in Judah and had prophesized the destroying of the shrine in Bethel that takes place in 2 Kings 23:16-18. After pleasing and obeying the Lord, the man from Judah set out. a man who's kids had returned and spoke of the man set out to find this man. Remember now, this man from Judah was known as "the man of God," and was a truly holy person. He was obeying the Lord under the promise that if he obeyed God he would be able to be buried with tomb of his fathers.

WHen the children's father(who was a prophet) found the man from Judah, he offered to take him back to his place for food and drink. (1 Kings 13:15-19)

"So the prophet said to him, "Come home with me and eat."
16 The man of God said, "I cannot turn back and go with you, nor can I eat bread or drink water with you in this place. 17 I have been told by the word of the LORD : 'You must not eat bread or drink water there or return by the way you came.' "
18 The old prophet answered, "I too am a prophet, as you are. And an angel said to me by the word of the LORD : 'Bring him back with you to your house so that he may eat bread and drink water.' " (But he was lying to him.) 19 So the man of God returned with him and ate and drank in his house.."

What did this man do wrong? He disobeyed the Lord's word, yes, but he thought he was disobeying him FOR the word of the Lord through this prophet. Eventually, the chapter ends by this man being killed shortly thereafter by a Lion(this pic's from the Lion King..Best disney movie EVER), and his body not being buried in the tomb of his fathers. This was a good man, who had seemingly committed one disobedience...and yet was punished with his death. This goes to show that we should listen to the Lord obviously...but let's look at the timeless question of

WHY DO BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE??

The fact is, after the fall, we all inherited Adam's sin. All human Kind (with the ONE exception of Christ) were born into sin. What does it mean to be born into sin? It means that we deserve to die. Yes. As human beings, right now, we all deserve to be cast into hell and burn for eternity. It sounds harsh and alot of people don't like to admit it, but if this weren't true, why would we need forgiveness? So when things such as hurricanes, disease, tsunamis, etc. kill thousands and thousands of innocent people, its not necessarily because they did anything bad. There are lots of reasons. First of all, it gives God an opportunity to do work. He gets to work through people in relief efforts...family members find themselves quesitioning things, and engaging in dialogue with Him. But why death? Why not temporary illness?

The reasons I may not know, but I look at situations like Hurricane Katrina, or Tornadoes (Kansas reference), or the Tsunami, as a reminder of how precious our time on Earth is, and also as a constant reminder that I deserve to die, and need to live every minute of my life in the way the Lord intended for me to do it. The fact is, none of us are born "good," but God sees our extraordinary potential, only because of Jesus. It is only through Jesus Christ that we are made this way..and we are still not essentially "good," as the passage in Colossians 3 shows us:

"Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. "

Our life is hidden in Christ - our "evil" nature is hidden, and it is this way that God sees us that I like to perceive ALL human beings...as beings with an enormous amount of potential, that can only be released through salvation.

Bad things will always continue to happen to good people. Is this the direct result of God's hand? Probably not - the fact remains that evil does exist in this world. But we are better off spending less time worrying about the bad times, and should start worrying and focusing on the good things we can accomplish now, and the things God wants us to accomplish now. THAT is our purpose.