Please, Let's Try Again (again)

the second chance. it's beautiful isn't it?
think when your a kid... "just one more time... just one more time."

for his birthday, my son got a nerf basketball hoop that now hangs on the back of front door in the foyer. He couldn't wait to play it... and to play it with someone. it took him a while to get the hang of it, being that the rim and net are a good 7 feet off the ground... pretty high for a boy who's 3 and a half feet tall. he kept trying and trying... wanting to play more and more. it was time for dinner and he kept saying "just one more time... just one more time."

beautiful. the second chance. the do-over. if at first you don't succeed, try, try again.














i was thinking about the image from the Sistine Chapel created by Michelangelo, commonly known as The Creation of Adam. You can see God's hand stretched far - with his finger, reaching out to connect with Adam... and yet Adam lazily reaches back.
"I'm too tired... I've got things to do. I don't have time..."
And God continues to reach... again and again. "Just one more time... Just one more time."

He longs for us to unite with him.

when we're united - we're tied to Him.

switch around the letters though... move the 'i' in united and you get... untied.
united. untied.
when i move... the bond is broken... but God's hand is outstretched as if to say "Please, let's try again."

My son's joy wasn't complete until he made that final basket before dinner. 'one more time' brought great gladness to his face, heart, mind and soul. Satisfaction.

The Father says to us "one more time" because he knows what will bring about joy and satisfaction. it's a relationship with the One who loves us so much, searches for us lost sheep and celebrates our homecoming.

Power Outage

with 50 mile per hour winds comes the occasional falling tree.
with the occasional falling tree comes a downed power line.

that was the case last evening, two doors down.
the tree fell and was laying on the wires. it then began to catch fire.
about ten minutes and two loud 'pop's and a flashing white light the fire extinguished itself - but electricity for the three blocks of which our house is centrally located was out.

most people probably slept through it all or at least - returned to sleep in the usual dark.
not me. i couldn't sleep. maybe it was the howling wind. maybe it was my four year old sons constant elbows and knees poking me after he had crawled in bed with us. or maybe it was the flashing, whirling lights atop the fire truck parked outside our house.
regardless, i got little rest.

so in the dark, with the flicker of a candle providing some comfort and light i spent a lot of time praying. what else was there to do? what better time than that which was present.

i began to compare my oft spiritual power outages to the situation outside the creaking walls of our house. i began to think about the teens whom i shepherd and how many of them are wandering around in the dark - with little or no desire for spiritual electricity or fire. and those other teens who have been stirring up that fire - with hopes that it would spread to their peers.

i thought about how much we rely on power... on electricity... on light. and yet for so many - when it comes to their faith - they don't seem to think it necessary to 'flip the switch on'. to them, simply having the switch is enough. but what good is that?

so many are resisting the light - like cockroaches scurrying about in the night... when the light comes on - they seek darkness as their shelter. and yet we know that the darkness is deceiving many.

oh how i want the power to come on. for the light bulb light up. for Christ to shine so that more people would be drawn to Him. and now my struggle ahead of me appears to be finding a new, relevant way to present the light to those God has given me to lead. but i also know i don't have to reinvent the wheel. i have to trust the Spirit. this journey that we are on - it is ever changing. the people we encounter along the path... they... they seem to resist - because society dictates what our priorities should be. or maybe because mainline christianity has become a breeder for complacency and comfort. or maybe because of a number of 'something elses'. at this point - i don't know anything anymore. i feel like Solomon... 'Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.'

i wait patiently for God to guide me to do what he wants me to do in order to reach those wayward sheep in darkness. maybe that is the answer... rescue the lost - one by one.