Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. –Romans 4:18-21


At risk of sounding like a teenage girl, I must say it:

I want to make out with these words.

 
Too much? Maybe so. By "make out" I mean, I want to read them, breathe them, and have their Spirit-filled wisdom seep into every ounce of soul. This passage comes at a good time as I’m finding that the realities of everyday, ordinary life have been consuming me. Not in a bad way necessarily. Everything is very normal and ordinary in our lives right now. We are working day in and day out. Friends come for dinner. We jaunt around town or around the house on weekends depending on what suits us. Andy is learning more and more in the lab and I am digging into a new job and some new volunteer activities that are utilizing my talents in cool, life-giving ways. But I found myself wondering this morning what was so extraordinary about the ordinary.

At the risk of sounding like a Debbie-downer, I must mention other things that continues to haunt me. Am I the only one that notices that A LOT of crappy stuff happens here in our world. And not just sometimes. Everyday! In the space of two weeks I learned about the passing of three people under the age of 30 in freak accidents. Two of them were sisters leaving their mom without her children. I hear these things and its as though my heart doesn’t know whether to leap out of my chest in anger or cower in a corner. What, exactly, are we supposed to do with these things?

Thankfully, when these moments come, Grace intervenes. I stumble upon a passage like the one above that beckons me to think differently.

A few months ago I was in the car on the way to work. I was very much on autopilot doing my usual 9,462 stops and starts at the absurd number of red lights that dot my commute down Broadway.

Confession here: I like me some Christian radio. I will be the first to admit that some of it is really, really bad music. No offense intended for those who thinks its all wonderful. Yet, sometimes, I wonder if Christian radio stations will play anything that comes from a band that puts Jesus in its song lyrics. Or do people truly believe that its better for their listeners if every lyric rhymes just perfectly with the next without regard for communicating any depth about the nature and character of God? Shameless plug. Come on people - lets sing deeply!

With that off my chest, I will whole heartedly admit that sometimes I just need to hear it. Even as I’m dumbfounded that this or that artist just rhymed the words savior and flavor (No, Jesus is not your favorite flavor. I promise you). I find with rare exception that I need to hear a different tune in my 15 minute drive to work than the one that life will sing at me in the ensuing 9 hours.

So there I am, stopping and starting at lights, and my radio hits a dead spot. I started to change the station but then heard smatterings of the two stations that my radio was stuck between: An NPR news channel and a Christian radio program. The following 30 seconds went something like this:

Christian Radio: “living He loved me, dying He saved me…”

NPR: “Riots continued in Egypt today…”

CR: “ …buried He carried my sins far away…”

NPR: “…30 killed in suicide bombing...”

CR: “…rising He justified, freely forever…”

NPR: “…Maria Shriver files for divorce today…”

CR: “One day He's coming…”

NPR: “Famine...Thousands...Dead.”

CR: “O Glorious Day!”

Now if this isn’t a picture of the gospel news, I don’t know what is. We all know that something has gone wrong. When 30 year-olds die in freak accidents its hard not to feel the weight of the fact that the world is groaning for redemption. I sense it in my soul. I sense it in the heartaches of friends and I sense it in the 30 seconds of failed frequency while waiting for a stop light. At the same time, I sense with deeper conviction that my heart must rest on the promise that at first started as an inkling and now shouts to me from the words of man who walked the world 2,000 years ago.

So I find myself at a crossroads sometimes. I could see the horrible irony of it all and continue to sway in the winds of reality that pull me from joy back to sorrow and from sorrow back to joy. Or I could rest on these ancient promises, be strengthened in faith through the Spirit of a living God, and give glory back to the One who provides eternal hope in the midst of these crushing temporal tragedies.

I pray daily for the grace to continue choosing the latter.

O Glorious Day.