Post by ybrown on Aug 14, 2006 10:54:58 GMT -5
Volume VI Issue 33
08/14/2006
Saturdays should be relaxing days. Never works that way at the Graham household, but I can still dream. This one Saturday came at the end of a very long week with lots of work. I was tired and wanted, no, deserved, a bit of peace. But right at the start my relaxing day was filled with chores. Finally about mid-afternoon, I fell onto my comfy sofa and stretched out. What wonderful bliss. All was well.
Suddenly the piercing sound of a horn broke my peace. Must be a car alarm , I thought. I waited for someone to turn the thing off, but it kept screaming. Very annoyed, I thought of how inconsiderate the idiot must be who would not even lift a finger to stop the terrible noise. I angrily rose from my sofa of bliss, stomped down the hall, and opened the door to my opened garage. The blast of the sound hit me in the face. As did the horrible truth! It was my van. I was the idiot!
I ran into the garage, hurried past our car, and reached for the van's door. Locked! I ran back inside and met my wife in the hall. "What's going on?" she yelled over the blaring horn. "Keys, woman! I need keys!" I quickly opened the key drawer. No keys. Beverly ran to get hers. I franticly looked around the kitchen. Ah, there on the table. The keys! I grabbed them, ran outside and pressed the alarm button. Nothing. The horn kept going strong. I pressed again but still the deafening noise would not cease.
I unlocked the van's door and beat on the steering wheel. A different horn sounded. "What?!?" I yelled. "Why would anyone have two different horns!" I looked for the fuse box but couldn't find it. Then Beverly showed up. "Here are the keys." "I don't need keys. I need the manual." "Have you looked in the van?" "Of course I've looked in the van!" At that she angrily went back inside to find the manual.
Then I got an idea. I would disconnect the battery. As I raced for my tools, my son Matt came into the garage and yelled something. I was now deaf and could only see his lips moving. "Later, later!" I yelled back. He shrugged his shoulders and went inside. I loosened the bolts on the battery cable. Sparks flashed but I was determined. Finally the cable popped off. Eureka! But the horn was still going. "That's impossible!" I screamed, glaring at the battery. Then a thought occurred to me.
I went to the car, opened the door and beeped its horn. Immediately the terrible sound vanished. I looked at the van. Battery cables in the air. The driver's door still open. Objects scattered about the floor in my earlier quest to locate the fuse box. And inside the house sat my grinning son who had tried to tell me.
Sometimes we try to fix the wrong thing. Like so many years ago when some guys were on a boat in the Sea of Galilee. A gale suddenly blew down the mountains and raced over the water. Most of them were fishermen and knew about storms on this lake, storms that came on quickly and could whip up twenty foot waves, waves like the ones that were flooding their own boat. And they knew that in such storms every man on board had to pitch in to help or they could all drown. Yet as they panicked, one lay asleep in the back. They woke him up, yelling, "Don't you care if we drown?" ( read Mark 3:35-38)
They wanted to fix their situation by controlling what they could, and they needed all the help every man could give. But this man didn't help them. Instead, he looked at the storm, and then did something unexpected. He yelled, "Quiet! Be still!" And the wind and the waves obeyed. He turned to others and calmly asked, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?" ( read Mark 3:39-40)
The Disciples had been trying to fix the wrong thing. The problem was not found in the wind and the waves, but in their reaction to them. It was not the storm or simply fear, but their fear was evidence of the problem. The problem was a lack of faith. They had underestimated what Jesus could do.
This problem is a common one. It comes suddenly when we least expect it, taking us by surprise just as we think all is well. It comes when we find ourselves in situations over which we have absolutely no control, when the only One who can be in control seems distant, asleep, and uncaring, when we have to completely and utterly trust Him with our lives and the lives of those we love.
Jesus knows why we are afraid. He knows when our faith is weak. And He knows when we are trying to fix the wrong thing. So He asks each of us, Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith? He asks so we also will know...and by knowing, we will hear Him clearly and not underestimate what He can do!
Put your trust in the light while you have it, so that you may become sons of light. - John 12:36a
Take care and be God's,
Chuck
08/14/2006
May God bless you this day … with faith sufficient for the day!
Saturdays should be relaxing days. Never works that way at the Graham household, but I can still dream. This one Saturday came at the end of a very long week with lots of work. I was tired and wanted, no, deserved, a bit of peace. But right at the start my relaxing day was filled with chores. Finally about mid-afternoon, I fell onto my comfy sofa and stretched out. What wonderful bliss. All was well.
Suddenly the piercing sound of a horn broke my peace. Must be a car alarm , I thought. I waited for someone to turn the thing off, but it kept screaming. Very annoyed, I thought of how inconsiderate the idiot must be who would not even lift a finger to stop the terrible noise. I angrily rose from my sofa of bliss, stomped down the hall, and opened the door to my opened garage. The blast of the sound hit me in the face. As did the horrible truth! It was my van. I was the idiot!
I ran into the garage, hurried past our car, and reached for the van's door. Locked! I ran back inside and met my wife in the hall. "What's going on?" she yelled over the blaring horn. "Keys, woman! I need keys!" I quickly opened the key drawer. No keys. Beverly ran to get hers. I franticly looked around the kitchen. Ah, there on the table. The keys! I grabbed them, ran outside and pressed the alarm button. Nothing. The horn kept going strong. I pressed again but still the deafening noise would not cease.
I unlocked the van's door and beat on the steering wheel. A different horn sounded. "What?!?" I yelled. "Why would anyone have two different horns!" I looked for the fuse box but couldn't find it. Then Beverly showed up. "Here are the keys." "I don't need keys. I need the manual." "Have you looked in the van?" "Of course I've looked in the van!" At that she angrily went back inside to find the manual.
Then I got an idea. I would disconnect the battery. As I raced for my tools, my son Matt came into the garage and yelled something. I was now deaf and could only see his lips moving. "Later, later!" I yelled back. He shrugged his shoulders and went inside. I loosened the bolts on the battery cable. Sparks flashed but I was determined. Finally the cable popped off. Eureka! But the horn was still going. "That's impossible!" I screamed, glaring at the battery. Then a thought occurred to me.
I went to the car, opened the door and beeped its horn. Immediately the terrible sound vanished. I looked at the van. Battery cables in the air. The driver's door still open. Objects scattered about the floor in my earlier quest to locate the fuse box. And inside the house sat my grinning son who had tried to tell me.
Sometimes we try to fix the wrong thing. Like so many years ago when some guys were on a boat in the Sea of Galilee. A gale suddenly blew down the mountains and raced over the water. Most of them were fishermen and knew about storms on this lake, storms that came on quickly and could whip up twenty foot waves, waves like the ones that were flooding their own boat. And they knew that in such storms every man on board had to pitch in to help or they could all drown. Yet as they panicked, one lay asleep in the back. They woke him up, yelling, "Don't you care if we drown?" ( read Mark 3:35-38)
They wanted to fix their situation by controlling what they could, and they needed all the help every man could give. But this man didn't help them. Instead, he looked at the storm, and then did something unexpected. He yelled, "Quiet! Be still!" And the wind and the waves obeyed. He turned to others and calmly asked, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?" ( read Mark 3:39-40)
The Disciples had been trying to fix the wrong thing. The problem was not found in the wind and the waves, but in their reaction to them. It was not the storm or simply fear, but their fear was evidence of the problem. The problem was a lack of faith. They had underestimated what Jesus could do.
This problem is a common one. It comes suddenly when we least expect it, taking us by surprise just as we think all is well. It comes when we find ourselves in situations over which we have absolutely no control, when the only One who can be in control seems distant, asleep, and uncaring, when we have to completely and utterly trust Him with our lives and the lives of those we love.
Jesus knows why we are afraid. He knows when our faith is weak. And He knows when we are trying to fix the wrong thing. So He asks each of us, Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith? He asks so we also will know...and by knowing, we will hear Him clearly and not underestimate what He can do!
Put your trust in the light while you have it, so that you may become sons of light. - John 12:36a
Take care and be God's,
Chuck