Helpless.

For the most part we like to be in control, or at least think we are in control. We like to call the shots, make the decisions and have a pretty good idea of how everything will turn out. But when that control is out of our hands and we feel helpless, that is a feeling we seldom welcome.

In a very simple form I have been forced to deal with feelings of helplessness. Seven weeks ago I injured my knee in a basketball game and for six of those seven weeks I have tried to pretend that I am in control. I visited the doctor a couple of times but I was pretty sure I could do something, anything to fix my knee. Whether it was ice, or rest or the right exercise I really thought I could fix this one. An MRI destroyed all of those thoughts. A torn ACL is not something I can fix on my own and I am in the hands of the doctor and his staff to make this one right.

When it comes to our faith are we in control? Do we like to be in charge, call the shots and have a pretty good idea how everything will work out? When we talk about faith and salvation those are things that are entirely and completely out of our control. It is nothing that we do, can do or will do, it is what has been done for us in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. It is completely out of our control. And as hard as it is we need to let go, trust God, and allow him to fix this one for us.

I am going to do my best to take my own advice and trust that I am in good hands and that this one can and will be fixed without me. For my knee but also for my soul.

See you in church,

Chris

Someone You Can Relate too

The other night my family and I watched the new film "Dolphin Tale." It is a movie based on the true story of Winter, a dolphin who lost her tail at two months old after it became entangled with a crab trap. Now as you can imagine, or if you have seen the trailer, this movie is a tear jerker, (my kids and I have a contest to see how many times my wife will cry in such a movie-I think Dolphin Tale is the new leader) and more than a few tears were shed as we watched the film. One of the things that I enjoyed most about the movie was how this dolphin was an inspiration for others, especially children, who had lost legs or weren't able to run, jump, etc like the other kids. At one point this girl who had lost one leg (we never know how it happened) drives a long way to see Winter and when she does she says, "she is just like me." Winter was an inspiration to this girl and many others because they could relate to her.

There is a parallel here with the Christian faith, God is someone that we can relate to through Jesus Christ. When we read the Gospels we see that Jesus' life was anything but easy. He is dismissed by his hometown, his own family calls him crazy, and the few friends he has abandon him when he faces his most difficult challenges. And then he experiences death. Whatever you have been through God has been there too.

Are you able to relate to God? Do you believe that when you struggle you don't struggle alone? That whatever you are going through God has experienced before and he experiences it again with you? Are you able to relate to God? Too often we think of God as this distant deity that rules from afar, deeply removed from us and our experiences. If we feel that way we need to remind ourselves of the 30+ years that God spent on this earth in the form of his son. God can say, with complete certainty and confidence, "I know what its like, I have been there too, you are not alone" because he has been there before and he is there with you now.

God IS someone we can relate to. I hope you feel that way too.

See you in church,

Chris