Sunday, June 2, 2013

Rounding First...and to Second

When Caleb, our youngest was a baby his big brother Cory adored him.  Cory was 11 years older and had been waiting for this brother a long time!  Cor spent much time playing with and caring for Caleb.

One of the games he would play with him from the time he was just a couple of months old was baseball.  In those early months Cory would take his baby legs and pump them as if Caleb was running and say, "He hits the ball!  He's rounding first rrrrrrr, he's running to second, he rounds second rrrrr, he's running to third, he rounds third rrrrrr.  He's heading home.  He slides.  He's safe!!! And he would wave his arms over Caleb with the umpire's signal for safe.  Over and over again, this scene was played out.

This morning as I was reading in a devotional book by Richard Rohr I ran across this paragraph:  "Faith, for me, is letting go of the images(and expectations).Then you will feel like nothing.  Faith is so rare---and religion so common--because no one wants to live between first base and second base.  Faith is the in-between space where you're not sure you'll make it to second base.  You've let go of one thing and haven't yet latched onto another.  Most of us choose the security of first base."

He continues by saying, "Yet faith happens in the in-betweens, the interruptions, the thresholds."
That often means we feel out of control...uncertain and scared.  Most of the time scared is not our preferred state of being.  On the other hand, there are times when we don't have a lot of choice, and realizing that these are the times when we can most expect to grow, expand our horizons, and seek God's face, may help us see this state of being is exactly where we need to be...like it or not.

Jeremiah 29:11 is a favorite verse for many of us.  "I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you  and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future."  (Continue the next few verses.)  We can choose to live in faith, taking chances on God and living in obedience when he calls us to "letting go" places.

So whether you are on to second, or third, or heading for the home stretch I pray for your in-between times, those times of faith growing letting go, and choosing God's preferred future.  That could be letting go of a job, relationship, routine, expectation, long held perceptions, false images of who our God is...  Have courage, my friends, God will bring you safely Home.  

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