“The Best of…” continues with this entry from September 27, 2004.� It’s part religious, part motivational, part whatever.� Enjoy as we continue to take a look back at the best of the writing we have around here.
The old words of Franklin Delano Roosevelt ring through my ears each day as I wake up, the sun hitting my window and screaming into my eyes. The bright sunshine is a welcome break from the darkness I’ve been sleeping in, night after night. The world I face watches me and my every move, as if waiting to pounce.
I walk into the air of the morning, hoping to face another day. Without failure. Without stumbling. And without becoming part of this world I detest. It is a struggle for many of us each day. From the morning traffic to the office rabble that rises above the cubicles, the world waits for us to fall, to fail. We strive to be as good as the next guy, but eventually something trips us up. We swear, we think the word we shouldn’t or we even caste a glance that our face should never have formed.
Each moment we walk in this world on that ever troubling straight and narrow, we are touched by that tempting of the words from the side of the road. Take a ride this way, do this and be that. Drink this, do some of this and then try those over there. It is about whatever can stop us from walking on the straight and narrow. It is about our weakness.
It is about our strength. Do we hold true to what we know to be right and wrong? Do we hold that line that we dare never to cross? Or is there surrender in our eyes as we drive full length into trouble? It is about our courage.
Do we stand up for the Truth? Do we say enough when it is enough? Do we call ourselves on something and keep ourselves more honest? What do we do with the right and wrong of the world that has been pointed out to us since the day we arrived in this bright world?
There is a daring truth in all of this. A terrifying awful truth.
We have the power to become something different. To transform ourselves from the old being that did whatever everyone else did, that allowed certain things to pass while expressing outrage at others to the creature that did stand up for what was right, true and pure. And was ok with walking away from it, no matter what it meant to themselves and what those around thought of them.
It is in that where we find this guy named God. For without him, without that strong arm he reaches to us with we would fall each time we tried to transform. We would scrape ourselves and call out in pain as we realized we cannot do this journey alone.
It is in Him that we can prevail. I’ve always had this image of God, with Jesus at his side as a friendly, smiling Lord of Lords. And he is. But there is something else about this God. He isn’t safe. Whoever follows him accepts that there will be trials, there will be trials and there will be times with little money to spread around. There will always be those moments that seemed to dig deeper into our soul until we literally scream for mercy.
And yet, I have a simple and almost stereotypical answer.
God Loves Me. No matter the troubles. They will strengthen me. No matter the trials. I shall learn courage. No matter the tough moments. I shall learn patience. No matter those that drive me up the wall. I shall learn compassion. No matter the world that looks at me with it’s giant teeth and waits for me to step away from the comapanion at my side.
We live in a terrifying world. There is no question. There is the answer.
We serve a terrifying God. And in that, I feel comforted. I face a world of hunger, pain, horror, terror, blood, death and destruction. I hurt for those thousands who lost lives in flooding because of nature. I hurt for those that suffer for the faith they practice. I hurt for those that have never been given a chance in the world because of who they are, what they look like or how they were born. And yet, I serve a God who cares so much he would sacrifice his Son for the awful things of the world. A God who asked his servent to sacrifice his son.
A unpredictable God who moves in the most amazing, mysterious and more often than not, unknown. I am evidence of this. I have struggled, fought and been up and down. And yet, through all of this, I know who cares to see me come away from these things that weigh me down.
A God who knows where I’m going, even if I have no freaking clue.
Now THAT is something I can put faith in. If God can use me with my scars, my past and my experiences and all the lost hope, there is a chance. A chance for all those that never believed in a chance reaching them.
There is a light at the end of the tunnel. And we are free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last.
Damn the torpedoes. Full. Speed. Ahead.
