Rubber Band Guns...

Did you ever make a rubber band gun when you were a kid?  I can remember making many of these toys with wooden clothes pins and a couple of pieces of wood nailed together to fit my hand.  It was fun until the rubber band misfired and snapped back onto my hand resulting in a nice red welt!  I had friends that could easily shoot a well stretched rubber band quite accurately simply by threading it through their fingers.  I never had that gift!  Once again, my futile attempts normally ended up with a loud  “Yipes!” and another welt.  It kind of reminds me of my friends who could spit like a bullet and hit whatever target they aimed at… That’s another “talent” that I never could attain… but that’s another whole story which is probably best left alone!

Have you ever felt like a stretched rubber band that was about to break when you are unexpectedly placed in a position where you are forced to stretch yourself just a little bit more?  With our recent move, I have felt more than slightly stretched at times.  Its fine when I don’t consider everything that has needed to be accomplished, but I haven’t always been successful in keeping that single minded focus.  You know what I mean?

Lately I was very unexpectedly presented with a situation that to be perfectly honest, totally blindsided me.  Like everything else with this move, my first reaction was to quickly turn it over to the Lord.  But then came that first night as I turned the light out and laid back on my pillow and was suddenly flooded with thoughts of things I could do to straighten out the situation.  That night I felt like I played a game of tug-o war with the Lord for about six hours… “Lord I commit this to you…. Hummm, maybe I could say or do this… no, no - Lord I give this to you… but…”  Do you have any experience with that game?

The next day I was almost overwhelmed as I looked at my “To DO” list.  There was my wife’s upcoming appointment with her new GP, and if you’ve been following this blog, you know how draining and emotional these appointments have been to me, there’s the need to have Piper’s haircut at a new salon, shopping for the rest of her outfit for our youngest son’s wedding next week, shoes for me, working with the In Home Selective Services from our hometown concerning my final paycheck, arranging for Piper’s medical records to be sent to her new doctors, grocery shopping, and working on the slowly receding pile of boxes stacked to the ceiling in our second bedroom… and then there is this new situation!

Stretch, stretch, stretch… snap!  As I thought about it, I could almost see the red welt forming on my hand!  But God… stepped in and brought peace!  As I read from Matthew 14:13 early this morning I realized that Jesus faced the same situation.  The story goes that “When Jesus heard about John (his cousin’s murder), he left in a boat and went to a place where he could be alone.  (But) The crowds heard about this and followed him on foot from the cities.” (God’s Word ©)

Jesus was most likely dealing with some strong emotions over His relative’s death and its added implications to His own mission and desperately needed some time alone to sort it all out.  But none of that mattered to the crowds.  They were more interested in seeing the power that Jesus had so that their personal needs would be met.  They most likely didn’t know, and probably didn’t care about what He was going through.  At that moment in time, only their own problems are what seemed to have mattered.

So what did Jesus do?  He was moved from the convictions of His heart at the people’s real needs and set aside His own situation so that He could be a channel of God’s love.  I am sure that He simply entrusted His personal hurt to His Father and knew that it would be taken care of!  And that is the same thing that I am seeing around me today!  As we lock our focus on Jesus, it allows Him the ability to act as a partner in the business of our lives!

Last night we received a phone call from a relative in California that was quite encouraging.  It would seem that our move has opened the door for the healing of our relationship.  The call was a total turnaround from the last four or five years of interactions when we lived a few miles away from them.  She was up, very positive to my wife and I and treated Piper like she was the strong, healed-by-faith, mature women of God that she is… instead of a strange little kid who is out of touch with reality!

When I disconnected from the call I had to stand up and jump and laugh!  It would seem that God has been very active working behind the scenes some 3000 miles away, without any help from me!  That really changed my outlook on our stretch and the new situation at hand.  Why be anxious?  Why waste time looking at the natural situation and how I can “fix” it?  God’s got everything in hand!  He is well able and so good at multi-tasking that He “can do anything, you know – far more than you could ever imagine, or guess or request in your wildest dreams! (and) He does it not by pushing us around, but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.”  (Not by our smart and/or harsh words or actions!) (Ephesians 3:20 The Message Bible)

So what more can I say?  My job is to simply stay focused and obedient to Jesus and His promptings.  His got my back… and He’s got yours as well!  Have a super weekend.  Stay in tune to His Word, and keep asking yourself… “What or Whom am I expecting today?”