Megan and I got really sucked into the TV show Lost, when it first aired. We watched the first season on DVD, but then anxiously waited for each new episode to air and gathered with some friends to watch it. That feeling of really wanting to know how things would end is so unique. I didn’t want be in charge of the ending and I was enjoying the show so much I didn’t really want it to end. Yet, the plot was so compelling I was always looking forward to how it would unfold. It’s kind of like watching a good baseball game. You’re watching it because there will be an end, but totally enjoying the progress to the end without knowing the path to get there. In some cases, being out of control is really great.
We have a new puppy in the house. He’s fantastic. But for an hour or two a day he gets super hyper. In that mode he’s very unpredictable. There can be barking, even some sharp puppy teeth chomping at anything in their vicinity. He’s got his own mind, and is not under control. It can get unnerving. Things will settle down, at some point. However, no one really enjoys the journey to the resolution.
This past Sunday we said that something like 3/4’s of the Christian faith is accepting: there is a God and it’s not me. In moments of faith I am able to experience the lack of control in my life more like one of the first scenarios. I’m actively engaged, but not controlling life’s unfolding resolution. I am not responsible for all the outcomes or the myriad of future possibilities. Other times, it feels like everything is out of control and some one is moving pieces that I wish they wouldn’t. I don’t know how or why things are happening and I’m nervous that whoever is in control cannot be trusted.
Of course, I know that God is never a hyper puppy. At times it can be hard to believe. Today, I’m asking for peace to rest in the reality that God is good, and stands in solidarity with me at God’s own expense.
terazzo, coffee, and kids 