A Fresh Perspective - June 19, 2009
Faith lays hold of the claim of Jesus that God is near even when we cannot sense or feel God's presence. We have no guarantee that we will be spared suffering or victimization. Trusting Jesus is not an immunization against the pain of life. Jesus was not spared . . . and he told his followers to be prepared for the same treatment.
When we find ourselves engulfed in darkness, faith (trust in God) enables us to keep going in the hope that light will one day break through.
The story is told of a missionary family home on furlough and staying at the house of a friend. One day, Dad was puttering in the boat house, Mom in the kitchen, and the three children, ages 4, 7, and 13, were on the lawn. Four year old Billy escaped from his sister's watchful eye and wandered down to the wooden deck. The shiny aluminum boat caught his eye, but unsteady feet landed him in eight foot water.
When the twelve year old screamed dad came running. Realizing what had happened, he dove into the murky water. Frantically he felt for his son, but twice, out of breath, he had to return to the surface. Diving down once more he found Billy clinging to a wooden pier several feet under. Prying the boy's fingers loose, he bolted to the surface with Billy in his arms.
Safely ashore, his father asked, "Billy, what were you doing down there?" The little one replied, "Just waitin' on you Dad, just waitin' on you."
Our situation may be such that all we can do is wait. When the darkness is so thick that we can't see to move forward, we trust and wait for God to illumine a path through it. Richard Rohr reminds us, "The way through is always much more difficult than the way around. Cheap religion gives us the way around. True religion gives us the way through. Cheap religion denies the darkness. True religion steps right into it." (The excerpt above is from my book, "The Good News According to Jesus," available at www.Helwys.com or Amazon.com.)
The vision of Immanuel Baptist Church is to experience and express God's unconditional love.