Get A Grip

As a child, fall promised the molasses taste of sorghum syrup, crisp Rome apples for jelly making, the smell of fresh cut hay, and the North GA State Fair.  Each year the midway beckoned our adventuresome spirit to bypass the carousel and head over to the Himalaya roller coaster.  Finally in our early teens, we were ‘big’ enough to experience the thrill of those coveted rides.  One of them, the Bullet, intrigued us as much as it filled us with expectant anticipation.

Looking like a couple of space-age hammers, two long arms with oblong capsules attached held a fascination as they lured us to the line.  My brother and I rode together, grinning so big it’s a wonder we didn’t attract moths.  As the handle-like poles swung back and forth, laughter bubbled out.  As we went higher, the carnival sounds faded as quickly as our mirth.  Held upside down for a moment, I knew I made a big mistake.  Then the centrifugal force of fast circles held my chin to my chest, causing pain and I just knew my next site would be heaven.  I shifted my eyes to the crossbar finding my brother‘s white-knuckled death grip and tears flowed down my cheeks. 

“Just hold on Dimple.  It’ll be over soon; just hold on!”

As if I could let go!  I couldn’t even move!

Have you ever been in a similar situation with no way to avoid imminent harm?  Do you know the tingle of feeling a clear and present danger paralyzing you against the typical fight or flight response?  Are you a crier, looking to others for help?  Where is your focus, here on this earth or your future? 

  

HOPE is the assurance of something better than right now.  It is the knowledge the temporal events of this life being the worst you will ever experience.  It is resting in the promise of eternal life.  It is security and safety, no matter what you are experiencing right this moment. 

HOPE, Hold Onto Promises Eternal, when things overwhelm you.  Cry out to God for wisdom.  Ask Him for the guidance to take the next step and the endurance to get through this season.  We face trials not only to test our faith but to strengthen it.  He will never give us a situation for which He will not be there with us to lead us through.

If you don’t know Jesus, ask Him into your life.  He’s right there waiting for you.  That soft knocking you hear is Him letting you know He’s seeking you.  That quickening you feel in your chest is an urge to answer His call. 

   

Jesus never promised an easy life; He promised incorruptible rewards.  He promised never to leave or forsake us.  He promised us abundant life.  Keep your eyes on the future, eternity with Him.

John 16:33 “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace.  In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

Ready or Not, Here I Come!

Growing up in a time of dial phones, black and white television, and wind up watches, recess couldn’t come fast enough.  We looked forward to weekend playtime and had friends over for games.  The playgrounds at school had swings and monkey bars as well as fields to play kickball.  We had swings, a big field of red-top clover, a larger yard, and lots of trees.  With five of us, school chums came to play at our house.  What’s another dozen kids Daddy would say and for Momma, it had to be easier having us all there rather than scattered out to multiple places.  We lived in a rural area and our house as the gathering place saved our parents a lot of windshield time although it probably gave them a few extra prematurely gray hairs.

If there were ten or more of us playing hide-and-seek, we would count up to fifty.  If just my siblings and I, it went something like “1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 – all good children go to heaven.  8, 9, and 10 – I’m not counting again.  Ready or not here I come!”  Such fun we had in finding the perfect hiding place in a short amount of time. Fun fizzled when the place so easily accessed was not so easy to get out of.  Calling out for help?  Not an option for the game continued.  Staying put?  Breathe through it.  We rallied to rescue our sibling without involving our parents.  If they knew we were hiding where we weren’t supposed to be playing, there would be whippings.

We have all experienced consequences to our actions, both good and not so good.  We have stretched, and sometimes broken, boundaries in the name of spreading our wings.  We have gotten ‘stuck’ between dumb and certainly not smart trying to do things on our strength and knowledge rather than asking for help.  Sometimes, we rally a cheering section to encourage us to stay stuck because we are comfortable there.  We keep our failures to ourselves because we don’t want to be embarrassed. 

Worst of all is getting caught doing something we shouldn’t be doing.  We know better.  We’ve been taught right and wrong.  We’ve been told to stay away, keep back, and move on from certain things, people, and places.  We hear but do we listen?  And when we get caught, do we hang our head in shame or shout back in defiance?  Do we admit our wrong and ask forgiveness?  Do we turn from our wrong and face the consequences of our actions?  Or, do we smile with understanding and do it again?

The Bible encourages us to pray and ask forgiveness for our sins; to repent of them.  To repent is a change of mind or purpose, a direction reversal from our current state.  To repent brings us to a penitent state or to be sorrowful, contrite, for sin or wrongdoing wanting to amend and atone for our actions.  It is not punishment but correction we receive when we ask forgiveness and truly repent. 

Not one of us makes it through the day without sinning in some way.  A constant battle against the flesh rages within a contrite heart.  We cannot hide from our wrong doing because it lives within us.  We cannot deny it for, frankly God already knows.  We pray and receive forgiveness because Jesus has set us free.  He took all our sins for all of us to the cross.  Nothing you do or say could make Him regret taking the punishment for you.  Nothing you can imagine or partake in can prevent Him from loving you.  Nothing on this earth can stop Him from wanting you with Him in eternity.  No man or law passed by man can overtake His word as truth.

Are you prepared for Jesus to return to take us home?  Have you admitted to Him you are a sinner in need of a Savior?  Do you believe in His redemptive work on the cross?  Have you asked Him to come into your life and change you? 

On that day when in the twinkling of an eye He arrives, I want to be doing His work.  Will you join me to be ready when He comes?