Along the white sterile walls of Methodist Hospital in Houston my mother walked side-by-side with me on a rolling gurney. Wishing us well the nurses waved a sad “see you soon” dressed in white knee length skirts, stockings, and what I called the fortune cookie hats. The orderlies pushed on through doorways and endless halls on the way to the operating room. Holding my hand along-the-way, my mother cried.
It was the summer of 1978; we had reached the conclusion of
a five year struggle of what to do about my birth defect. After years of wearing leg braces, plaster
body casts, a bone graft and a partial amputation surgery we had reached a fork
in the road. We could decide to spend my
adolescent years in surgery after surgery missing school and socialization
trying to fix my deformed leg. Or we
could amputate the lower part of the leg, be fitted with a prosthetic leg, and
be on our merry way.
Faithfully walking by my side, tears rolling down her face,
I offered a question:
“Mom? Why are you crying? They’re just going to cut off my leg.”
Words from a five-year-old boy intended to comfort probably
cut deeper into the pain. I’m so
thankful that I have not had to make a similar decision for my own children. God allowed my mother to make that difficult choice
and she made it as faithfully as she could.
Since the time I was very young, I’ve been aware that when it
comes to crisis situations I frequently have had a positive outlook. My attitude tends to reflect the old saying,
“Things could be worse.” And even though
I tend to stress over change I know that God’s blessings always follow the
storm.
In many ways I’ve tried to tackle problems with the idea
that we can conquer anything that the world throws at us. But our abilities are so small when compared
to the power of God.
When we know Jesus that power and optimism is amplified
infinitely. When he spoke to his
disciples saying, how hard it would be for a rich man to enter heaven they
didn’t understand what he meant. They
believed wealth was a sign of God’s favor toward someone. They believed that someone who was poor or
sick had received divine punishment, and therefore was less likely to enter
heaven. They were confused and asked how
this is possible. And he said to them,
“with man it is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
St. Paul
shares a similar sentiment after suffering through arrests, stoning, floggings,
shipwrecks, snake bites, and all manner of perils for the sake of proclaiming
the Good News of Jesus, he wrote, “I can do all things through Christ who
strengthens me.”
I like to apply this way of thinking to our life together in
the All Saints family. As we continue to
focus on knowing our gifts and encouraging each other to live the Good News of
Jesus in the world we can be confronted with set backs. There will be things that discourage you at
work or at home. People can rub you the
wrong way, you can get sick, there are so many ways that the world can try to
distract you from believing that you overcome and conquer with the Love of
Christ.
But really I want you to think differently. Indeed it is not you who conquers. But it is
Christ living in you that conquers these struggles. And because of that we have nothing to fear. Looking to him for strength in each moment of
the day will help you to overcome those hurdles and live fully into the Kingdom
that he is preparing us for.
As All Saints continue to discover how we are called to
bring more people into our fellowship we will
be confronted with barriers that keep us from fulfilling God’s will for
us. There will be hiccups, difficulties,
struggles, tension because our selves
will get in the way of his plan. But he
wants for us to be a thriving branch that bears much fruit in his Kingdom. And to do that we must look to Jesus. Jesus is our lighthouse on a rocky shore,
shining light in the dangerous areas and guiding our way saying to us, “Do not
cry; do not be afraid. I am with you.”
