May 13, 2012

It’s Mother’s Day and for all the moms who are involved in our congregation, thank you for such work, in an oft times thankless position.

I’ve always enjoyed characters of the Bible. There was a time that they were flat and distant, people with whom I had nothing in common. They did heroic things while I lived a mundane life in a boring world. There were no giants in my life, no lions to slay or rivers to part. I liked to read the stories, but somehow they didn’t seem real.

One day I began to think about them on a different level. They wanted the same things I wanted, to have a purpose and to count for something. They had the same fears I had, the same concerns for friends and families.

The heroes of Scripture really were like me. They struggled with sin, just like I do. They sometimes were victorious, they sometimes failed miserably. They were success and failure rolled up into the same body. They wanted to be happy, just like me. They wanted to be liked and respected, just like me. They wanted to find a way to deal with their guilt and shame. They wanted both adventure and security, freedom and belonging. Things that stand opposed to each other, but the desire for both was there.

The Bible is the story of their efforts at all of these things, and God stepping in during the worst of times to save the day. There was sickness, injury and a mountain of uncertainty all around them, but they learned to look toward God.

Some of them had wives that didn’t love them, husbands that were oafs, and children that didn’t turn out well, but God stayed constant with them.

The Bible isn’t a story about God saving us from struggles and misery, but God standing with us through these things. It is about his strength, being there when we think we can’t go any further.

The surprising thing about the Bible characters is, if it were being written today… you would be one. Now, just what would they write about you?