"If God be for us..."

"There have been great societies that did not use the wheel, but there have been no societies that did not tell stories." Ursula K. Le Guin 

My one and only grandson is five and a half. That "half" is important to a child. The other day Jonah asked me, "Gigi, how did Jesus walk on the water?" I said, "Jesus is God." I thought for a minute how to introduce to his small mind the concept and mystery of the Trinity, but before I could begin my teaching moment, he replied, "I know, Gigi, God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit." 

"Wow," I said, "Your parents are doing a great job." The next day I told the story to his uncle on the phone who as a young adult struggled in his faith, walked away, and in recent years has been rebuilding, or I should say Jesus has been rebuilding. ( Matthew 16:18 ) 

And I've been learning how far to stand back from the construction site and just observe the raw beauty in my hard hat. The Holy Spirit has our teaching moments. 

He said, "Mom, I see now that all of the Christian life can be summed up in the story of Peter walking on the water. For years I heard that if you come to Jesus, things will be better and smoother; you can attain your dreams. Everything will be fine, but that didn't happen for me." 

"However, when I walked the other way, away from Jesus, I kept sinking. I finally realized I can't do this without Him." You come on Christ's terms, not your own. You give up your life to follow him." ( Mark 8:34, Matthew 16:24, Luke 9:23 ) 

"When Peter wanted to get out of the boat and come to Jesus, Jesus said, 'Come.' Peter climbed over and walked on the stormy sea, but he began to sink when he took his eyes off of Jesus." 

Matthew 14:22-33 unfolds the narrative. It says that the boat was beaten by the waves because the wind was against them.

He went on to say, "When we come to faith in Christ, so many people think it will be calm and smooth sailing, that the storms cease, but the Bible doesn't teach this. I don't understand all of the Bible, but I'm reading it each morning. And the wind is against us. The storm didn't go away when Peter got out of the boat. The storms continue to rage, and we walk on top of them if we keep our eyes on Jesus. If we don't, we sink." 

"That's the Christian life in a nutshell," he said. 

"Who was it that just sat at Jesus's feet and listened to him, Martha?" 

"No, Martha was the one who was running around worrying about everything," I said, It was her sister Mary who was listening to Jesus." 

"Jesus said that Mary chose the good part - she had her eyes on Him. We're suppose to be like Mary," he said. 

"Yes, yes we are." 

I told these stories to his grandmother shortly after that. She said, "That is beautiful and so true. I love this." It touched her heart. She said that we tend to think we have to do some great purpose for the kingom of God, but we are called to be faithful with what is in front of us each day. This is greatness. 

Like Jesus, we come to serve and not be served. ( Matthew 20:28 ) 

The wind was against them. It's against us too, we're not different. But Christ is for us. That's all that matters. That's all we need to know and all we need to sustain us and hold onto each day in our faithfulness, and if we think we are beginning to sink, reach out to him. And do you know what is mysterious and so amazing about all of this? 

In our mind's eye we see Jesus grabbing us up out of the stormy sea; we gasp taking great breaths of air for dear life, but the truth is: He never let go of us. 

How do I know this? 

"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh could not do." ( Romans 8:1-3 ) 

God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit 

💜

Happy Weekend!