The W-Zone

I noticed a sign like this one the other day and it got me to thinking.

What did the "w" stand for?  Well, it was obvious in that area that the "w" referred to "work zone."  So, at my present rate of travel and barring no traffic delays I should be cleared of the orange barrels in about 40 minutes...one playlist on my I-Pod.  And then I would be through this messy, inconvenient, and dangerous area of interstate.

Wouldn't it be nice if we had a sign in our lives that told us when we would be through the messy, inconvenient, and dangerous areas of our lives;  when the relief would come?  I mean, imagine:

• "2 months until end of unemployment zone"
• "3 days until end of sickness zone"
• "8 hours until end of worry zone"
• "10 minutes until end of pain zone"
  
• "5 weeks until end of ..."

How much easier it would be to endure life's messes and inconveniences.

When I worked in EMS one of the most frequent complaints we received was that we weren't moving fast enough.  Relief was not getting there as quickly as the one in need expected.  No one EVER called to complain that we arrived too soon!

The apostle Paul needed relief from something that burdened him.  He called it his "thorn in the flesh."  He wanted relief, he prayed for relief, and yet relief had not come.  Did God not love him?  After all, he had given his life to God and was sharing God's salvation with everyone he met.  Was he not doing enough?

Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.  But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."  Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 

2 Corinthians 12:8-9

Not everything we suffer in this world has a short duration.  But we can know that the love of God will remain with us not just through the w-zone but beyond.  That process is called faith and it is not something that is easy to develop.  It takes endurance with God's help.  (see Hebrews 11). 

But knowing that the power of Christ is made perfect in the times when we are weak, the times when we don't think we can make it through, is a promise that we, in Christ, have.

Because Jesus became weak, to the point of death on a cross, and God raised him up to a greater glory, he will also raise us up.

I have been crucified with Christ.  It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.  And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Galatians 2:20

Son Glasses

Have you ever felt like Thomas? "If I could only see the evidence God then I would believe."

Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it." John 20:24

When I am on this side of a situation or circumstance that has tested my faith it is easy for me to look on that event and ask, "How could I have doubted or been uncertain?" My faith is much stronger today than it was even three months ago but the daily attention that a growing faith requires is sometimes very challenging to manage.

I have to learn to stop squinting through life. You know, like when a light is shining in your face so bright that you can't fully open your eyes - when you see someone having a physically painful experience - when a circumstance is so hard to watch that we must nearly shut our eyes.

Compare your life to that of the apostles:

• They stared at a hillside full of thousands of hungry people and asked what they were to do.
• They were tossed about in a torrential storm and cried out with fear.
• They saw time and again the power of Jesus revealed in healing and other miracles and still they did not instinctively turn their challenge over to Christ.

I find myself too many times seeking first my own solution to a challenge in life before taking that before my God. As the Casting Crowns song says

Oh what I would do to have the kind of faith it takes to climb out of this boat I'm in, onto the crashing sea. To step out of my comfort zone into the realm of the unknown where Jesus is...

My prayer is that God will open the eyes of my faith to the way He has and does work in my life so that I might be an effective and powerful witness to His love and grace. I have to look at life through the eyes of Jesus.

Put your Son glasses on and open your eyes of faith to a world around you filled with possibilities to do and receive good. Squinting gives you crows feet anyway.

2-Year Old Wisdom

"See 'da butterfly daddy?"
"No Jackson, that's a fly."
"No, dats a butterfly!"
"No, you know what a butterfly is. That's a fly."
"'DATS A BUTTERFLY!"

And so our conversation goes, as long as I will let it. Our son gets something stuck in his little 2-year old mind and there it becomes cemented. Most of the time these conversations are nothing more than him testing my patience...or consistency.

But other times I think he legitimately gets confused about the proper names for things. Then we can reason through (as much as is possible with a 2-year old) and come to the correct designation. I know my son and I know 2-year olds. While I don't remember being 2 years old myself I have been around a lot of 2-year olds and know their developmental process.

I wonder how God must feel sometimes with my reasoning. I mean, He has the same kind of conversation with me from time to time (not literally, of course, but through His word and to some extent through others around me).

I get something stuck in my mind - an attitude, a selfish desire, a rebellious intent - and there it becomes cemented.

God says, "That's not a good decision."
But I say, "No, it'll be okay."
Then God says, "You know what the right decision is because I have shown you through my Son and numerous other examples."
Then I become more stubborn and say, "NO, I don't want to change." And my little 2-year old comes out.

And yet, God chose to create us in His image. Praise God for that!

I am so thankful that God loves me and knows me inside out. After all, he made me.
God has not only been two years old (think about that one) but he has also been around a lot of 2-year olds and knows their developmental process.

Take a moment to read Psalm 8:1-9.

"Thank you, Lord, for your patience with me as I am reminded to trust you and your Holy Word."