Where the Rubber Meets the Road

“Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
 They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I hope in Him!” Lamentations 3:22-24

It has been a little while since I have blogged and there are reasons, not the least of which I have been very busy bu,t mostly because I really had to get some perspective to write this particular entry.

We are ending lent this week and on Sunday we will celebrate the Risen Lord Jesus!!!! These last six weeks have been a strange time of reflection for me, I have thought a lot about my past and a lot about the future and what it holds. I have thought about how blessed I am and I have asked God to give me a more merciful heart for those in need. But, the most poignant part of these last few weeks came from a place I would have never expected. A family at Anna Lee’s school lost their three-year-old daughter on March 7^th after a two year battle with a cardiac condition. I have read their blog over and over as they shared their struggles at the reality that they would lose their precious Lucy. Their faith has astounded me, their trust in God in what has to be the most awful situation a family is asked to bear is nothing more than remarkable. The verse from Lamentations above tells their grievous story . . . . “The Lord is my portion.” I wonder how many of us can really utter those words through the most gut wrenching times in our lives? Do we understand that the only reason we are still here on the earth is because of God’s mercy? We are not faithful but He is.

I have experienced great pain in my life, although, nothing compared to the Jarrett family’s, but their experience has reminded me of the time when I lost many precious things and the only thing I could do was cling tightly to the cross, so tightly there was no light between, and thank God that He let me live through it although I wanted to die. If you have never felt that kind of loss or pain you will at some point. I’m not being morbid, it’s just life and we can’t avoid it no matter how many walls of protection we place around us. When life happens that is where our spiritual rubber meets the road. In other words, do we really believe what the Bible says? Do we really trust that no matter what happens, even the loss of a child, that God is sovereign? That a Holy God who spoke the world into being has loved you longer than anyone and wants only the best for you will see you through anything life can throw at you? That a God who loves you so much He sent His son to die for you? Do you know the God the Jarrett’s and I know? I hope you do, and if you don’t I pray you will.

This Sunday as you go to church in your Easter outfit and hunt Easter eggs with your children or grandchildren, and eat a meal with your family, ask yourself is this about a ritual or a relationship? My hope is that you know the God of the universe and that there is only one way to Him, through Jesus Christ. Praise God He Is Risen!!!!!