Stubborn Heart, Stubborn Wind -- Trusting God when you like a chapter but can't apply it!

As I read about the conversations at the start of chapter 11, I paused and recorded the conversations I’ve had in the last 48 hours about God stuff in my house hold.  In the last two days, I’ve been fielding a lot of spiritual conversation questions from my kids.  Here are a sample of the ones I remember: Dad, are there other worlds?  Dad, how many days were there in creation? And if the bible says, that for God, time is different than hours, like one day is 10,000 years or something, how does that play in?  Dad, what is your favorite bible story? Dad, why did God create the earth? Dad, when God created the animals I think he created them for us to enjoy but it seems like things changed, did they?  Journeying through these questions with my kids created some great communion with the heart of the gospel - Christ’s unprecedented, & perfectly unique love story for them and the creation.   

As I inventory the last 48 hours of “conversations” outside of my family I find the following:
Outside of my family, tragedy was in my path, as a family wept at church beside me and a pastor explained to me that I was witnessing the morning of a sudden death by aneurysm of a man in his forties by his wife and kids.  His wife teaches at the school Karis attended last year.  Yesterday night Sarah shared with me that a gal who was active at Lakewood School years ago committed suicide.  I prayed for a lady on Sunday who has three kids and is incapacitated by vicious abdominal pain from what may be a botched surgery dating back to October. Andy moments ago shared with me that his uncle is suffering and needs prayer. 

The point – I loved chapter 11 but God’s not directing my life to celebrate the life of Christ through deep conversations about emotional health – (not that the author expects that, but I kind of did!)

Chapter 11 had the most highlights for me.  Its packed with wisdom and words that express tender, ongoing  intimacy with Christ over and over.      As I look at the last 48 hours of conversations, I am reminded of Steph’s post – “abide, abide, abide.”  Sometimes conversations with those around me are great opportunities to proclaim emotional health.  Sometimes (like the questions from my  kids illustrated) the conversations are more centered on the Lordship of Christ and His glorious fulfillment of all things including space and time through the cross.  When I think about applying emotional health over the last 48 hours I am kind of stumped.  I feel like Nicodemous before Jesus.  I’ve got these great ideas from this guy but none of the conversations are affording me the opportunity to put them to practice.  The wind is blowing me in places where the book isn’t exactly a great fit in my relationships….. then Steph’s words ring in the breeze “ABIDE, ABIDE, ABIDE.” 

When I abide, I can ride the spirit of God like the wind and fly to a moment of chat about emotional health (or not)  or perhaps (as been happening recently) fly to a moment of proclaiming the eternal glorious appearing of Christ.  In summary, I feel compelled as I write to acknowledge that I can trust Jesus and ride the wind and that’s about it.  I’ve challenged myself in the past with this - Try to catch the wind in the bottle and tell it where to go.  I can assure you, catching the wind doesn’t work. 

As I finished chapter 11 I feel compelled to turn in my wind catching bottle and other Christian paraphernalia that I use to get God to do what I want.  With my God manipulating junk stashed away, I am left with a simple prayer from 2 Corinthians 2:16 – “Who is adequate for these things?”    As I pray, “God, who is adequate for any of this stuff?” I hear Paul preach back to me - “Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God,  who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” (2 Corinthians 3:5-6.)

One truth about who each of you are that puts a fat smile on my face and fills my heart with joy-filled hope as I read the blog each week comes from this same  passage in 2 Corinthians 3 –  “You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men; being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.”

Thanks for writing words written on tablets of stone (or Ipads.) Those words that you’ve written through the spirit of God express the very Word of God – Christ Jesus in You!!!  -- The revelation of Christ in you brings super-charged encouragement to my soul at least.  Thanks for sharing.  Your sharing as Paul suggests isn’t just hollow words but the very letter of Christ written on your heart.

I love that.