Taking a Stand Against Gnats, Backaches, and Collisions

I've been rubbing Icy Hot on my husband's back for what seems like six weeks. Every day, just as he's preparing to leave for work, the jar comes out, signaling it's time for me to locate that knot of muscle once again. As he has compensated for one knot over those weeks, however, a new one always appears. I find myself just covering the entire area, shoulder to shoulder, stem to stern with the pungent grease. He's suffering from a nagging, relentless backache. It torments him almost imperceptibly until BAM! he's turned just a bit too far and the pain streaks across his back. One day it will abandon its purpose and Scott will move easily and thoughtlessly; but until then, he treads lightly, gingerly bending and walking, and I slather his aching muscles as he prepares to go out the door. 

Life can have its throbbing, troublesome moments as well, just one of the varieties of problems we encounter on this perfectly positioned orb. I usually put life's difficulties into three categories: gnats, backaches, and collisions. 

Gnats. Those annoyances that, though minor in nature, seem to gang up on us, making us want to curl up in a ball and abandon whatever it is we are up to. The room renovation that began in a blaze of excitement but has been plagued by backorders and reschedules and contractors who won't return your calls. The auto body shop that just can't seem to get the paint to match or the doors to line up or the moonroof to stop leaking despite their numerous efforts and your countless trips to pick up your "completed" vehicle. Gnats. They're tiny but find their strength in numbers.

Backaches. You know the ones; you wake up feeling great, thinking a good night's sleep has finally relieved the tension in your muscles. By the time you've had your coffee and gone back upstairs to get the laundry, you begin to notice a twinge creeping across your lower back. The day is starting off the same way as the last ten or twelve or eighteen. Day after day you struggle with the same old problems. Familiar temptations, chronic failures, even your ruts are in a rut. You've asked the neighbor to stop blocking your driveway. What can you do? You have to live next to this person! You've checked and rechecked your account for the payment that was supposed to be there last week. Meanwhile, your bills pile up and late fees accrue. It's a chain reaction. Your life is cumbersome, your full hands are tied. Until the day, BAM! Lowe's is out of 20-amp breakers. The rage shoots through you like lightning. Backaches. They always there, always nagging; they shape the way we approach every activity and awaken things in us we thought were extinguished.

Collisions. These are the life events that change things in an instant. The death of a spouse, the loss of a job, the news your condition has worsened to the point there is nothing more they can do, the disappearance of a child, the implosion of a relationship, a literal collision. It is the only thing you think about day and night. You wonder, What if I had... or What if I hadn't... You try to make sense of it all. Everything you called "life" has fallen to pieces in an ethereal game of JENGA. Collisions. Harsh, devastating, life-altering encounters that make us question whether we will ever recover. 

And we know --we know! ALL things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). Infuriating gnats, chronic backaches, and staggering collisions work together for our good if we are born by the Spirit into the family of God, if we have chosen to follow Jesus, if we choose to do the will of our Father. If you cannot stand on His promise with assurance today, I encourage you to stand on it without assurance. If you belong to Jesus Christ that promise is for you. Say it, even when you're not sure you believe it. Stand on it when you're besieged by gnats and gripped by those nagging pains and flat on your back with tragedy staring down at you. All things! Say it, know it, and stand on it. 

Midweek: Let's Not Get Political

I don't usually "get political" on here, and maybe, as a Christian and an American --both criteria mandating responsibility to my nation and my fellow countrymen -- I should. Of course, I know the election is over, but I've noticed some troubling things over the past several months. I think you will find, however, they have less to do with politics and more to do with how we treat one another.

The hatred among Trumpers. In June I attended a Trump rally. And I will say, again, No, I am not a 'Trumper.' It saddens me greatly that he is the best candidate the Republican Party can offer its constituency, but here we are. So, I was invited to one of his rallies. The "speech," if it can be called that, was rambling and filled with hyperbole. No surprises there. What I really took notice of, however, was the atmosphere. I have to be honest; I was a little uneasy heading to a Trump rally in a Democratic city known for its exceptional homicide rate. The police presence was tremendous, and security was tight. But the people! Surrounding the venue were row after row of vendors selling all manner of MAGA merch. Some merchants appeared to be so into the celebratory vibe, they were handing out flags and bandannas for free. Visitors to the center were talking and laughing --and they were visitors from all ages and races and walks of life! I saw a man hurrying down the street who inadvertently dropped a huge wad of cash from his pocket; behind him a tattooed young man decked in red called to him to return the money. Another man stood on a street corner respectfully debating those who challenged his point of view. A couple of well-dressed women "of a certain age" were being interviewed by an Australian news source; their answers were well-constructed and had nothing to do with venerating an unhinged figurehead. People were scooching down in their rows and making room for others to gain a good view of the dais. But hate was among us! It came in the form of an elderly husband and wife. A father and son offered up their seats so the senior couple could comfortably sit. Shortly after opening remarks, the husband rose from his seat and began screaming --I thought at, but it was to his wife, to be heard over the crowd. Soon they both were on their feet screaming at all of us how ashamed we should be, that Trump has killed thousands, and we were despicable people for even attending such an event. They were still spitting their condemnations at us as they left.

"Friend"ship. Fast forward to September, and a friend makes the statement that folks are only voting for Trump "because they can't stand the thought of a black woman President." Normally, I let his/her offensive opinions and innuendos rot with the rest of the garbage, but I'd grown so tired of hearing this divisive line spread by the Democrats like the manure it is, I gave my opinion. There were issues with which he/she wasn't even familiar so, he/she asked, I clarified, and the conversation was over. No attempts to convert, I merely wanted to put a stop to an insulting fallacy. It's November, the election is over, and said friend has publicly stated he/she is "reevaluating" relationships based on political choices. This person has placed the word friends in quotations as though any qualifications I possessed prior to casting my vote, any good I did for him/her, any love we had for one another or any memories we shared are fully negated by the exercising of my right as an American. For four people who will never know our names, this friend is willing to sever our relationship. For events he/she believes will happen based on whatever sources he/she adheres to, this friend is willing to burn bridges on a personal level. And here's what I think is most interesting: our discussion in September! This friend knew how I was intending to vote. This friend maintained our usual level of contact for weeks after our discussion. This friend hosted both my husband and me in October. Not until this friend's candidate lost was there any mention of my unconscionable betrayal. And there was never any mention of how either one of us was planning to vote the rest of the ballot! 

Hypocrisy. I have seen "Christian" Republicans (and yes, I will put that in quotation marks) spew hateful things about the Democratic candidates, and vice versa. So wrong! I can't say how much that bothers me. And it does cause me to question their commitment to Jesus (as it would any observing unbelievers). We can educate and correct those with differing views without belittling them or severing connections. We can be educated and corrected. I learned long ago, when telling people about Jesus, if He's as great as I believe He is, beating people over the head with the Bible only weakens the position. Insulting them is out of the question! The same is true of all we defend and endorse: harming others in the name of a cause only harms the cause. 

So, it's Wednesday. I don't usually write, and I don't usually drag on so, but please, please, please think before you believe something. Think before you trash your relationships over an outcome we'll all have grown accustomed to before its inauguration. Think before you speak. And most importantly, my Christian brothers and sisters, love God and love your neighbor (Mark 12:30,31)

May God bless America.

Let Us Be Awakened

In 1994, God began calling me to Himself. Or, better said, I began to recognize what was happening. I think He'd been calling me all of my life, long before that time. A full decade later, I turned toward Him and agreed to follow. I have had good days and bad, have said and done things in ignorance; I have walked with Him through difficult seasons and taken off running in those times I was pretty sure I had things under control. I have rebelled. No matter how many times I got it wrong or where I landed over these twenty years, He has never abandoned me. That brings me tremendous comfort, and I say this that you might find comfort as well. The love of God is immeasurable. 

As a nation, we have been through an election like no other. It is not our ideas that divide us, but our attitudes. God, through Paul tells us our attitude should be that of Christ's and our conduct "worthy of the Gospel." Jesus tells His disciples we are known by our love for one another (John 13:35), identified as His by the way we treat the other members of His body! As a Church in this hurting nation, are we following the standard set forth by our Lord and Savior? Are we setting the example? The Church needs to be a place of healing and wholeness because its people are committed to healing: 

• Healing and wholeness because of our faith in Jesus Christ and His work on the cross. 
• Healing and wholeness because of our practice of spiritual disciplines and our continued trust in the work of the Holy Spirit. 
• Healing and wholeness because of our love for others, becoming the best versions of ourselves in order to serve them better and encourage them along their journey toward the same goal. 

Those who have chosen to be led by their emotions rather than God's law should repent and be welcomed into fellowship. Those who have passed judgment on others should repent and be welcomed into fellowship. Those who have withheld forgiveness or fallen away or treated others contemptuously or allowed divisions should repent and be welcomed into fellowship. The Church should not respond in the same way the world responds to offenses. We should not choose self-indulgence, self-promotion, and self-centeredness over self-lessness, self-examination by the Scriptures, and self-sacrifice.

This morning, a song from those early days of my awakening came to mind:

A preacher shuns his brother

Cause his bride's a different color

And this is not acceptable

His papa taught him so

It was love that he'd been preaching

But this was overreaching

The boundaries stretchin' further

Then his heart would choose to go...

What have we become?

A self-indulgent people

What have we become?

Tell me where are the righteous ones?

What have we become?

In a world degenerating

What have we become?

~ What Have We Become, DC Talk, 1995

Let us lead by example. Let us love one another. Let us work with the Spirit of our God and King leading the way, that our fellowship and our nation might be awash in healing and wholeness, and that it might forever continue. Let us be identified by our Christ-like attitudes and not our ideas.