Tag: live with hope

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
~Jesus

I ate everything that would crunch.  Grapes, cheetos, finger nails.  If I was limber enough to get a toe in my mouth it would have been that as well.  It was Game 7 of the World Series and my beloved Cubs were winning, then tied and my heart was filled with anxiety of another let down as  a seemingly insurmountable lead was no longer existent.

And then after 9 worrisome innings of baseball the skies opened up and it rained…

I have often experienced my own rain delays.  Life seemingly spins outside of my control.  If feels as if the lead on life I have gained is about to be lost.  As if Steve Bartman is down the foul line waiting to spoil my sure thing. And then the skies open up and I am forced to pause.

These are moments God hits pause on our process simply because our opponent anxiety and worry are beginning to win.

Jesus in his most famous sermon neatly wraps his 1 part series on money with these words
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Today is a day I need the rain.  It the my bottom of the 9th with the score tied, but in a moment of retreat I am reminded I don’t know what tomorrow brings, but this I know the one who clothes the fields with beautiful colors and feeds the birds who do not work for the food.

Sometimes in the midst of the moment worry gets the best of us.  Anxiety steals our hope.  Fear trumps truth.  Yet when we can step away for just even an instant we can gain perspective that worry does not add anything to our life.

Jesus also said this, worry ain’t gonna add one hour to your life (my grandma’s translation).  So in the moments we can’t stop the worry, God sends rain delays to help us regain perspective.

Oh, and that little baseball, the Cubs won!

justbeingjeff

 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us,who can be against us?
Apostle Paul

This has been the mantra of my house for the last few months.  Struggle comes in many forms when you are raising three kids that vary from nearly grown to thinking they are grown.

My nine year old darling did not fully catch the expression and echo right away of Paul’s question posed to the Roman church.

I would say “if God is for us…”
Her echo “he is against us”.

While her heart was in the right place, her semantics were not.  But maybe some truth leaked out her word choice.

I think there are a lot of moments, days and even stretches of time that we feel that the God who is for us is working against us.  Maybe it is not so much that the God of all creation has spun the world against us as much as it a sense of his absence in the middle of the struggles we face.

King David eloquently but with little delicacy expresses in the psalms.

How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?
    How long will you hide your face from me?
² How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
    and day after day have sorrow in my heart?
    How long will my enemy triumph over me?
Psalm 13:1-2

So often we “know” God is for us but we fail to “see” where he his moving.  This creates this Davidic cry in our life of “Where in the world are you?”

I wish I had the answer.  I wish I could evaluate your life and say “God is present right here in this particular area.”

But in truth our only response may be just what David writes at the end of the psalm:
But I trust in your unfailing love;
    my heart rejoices in your salvation.
⁶ I will sing the Lord’s praise,
    for he has been good to me.
Psalm 13:5-6

So God is truly for us.  And not against us. Even when circumstances in our life would paint the picture that he is or at minimum absent.  I think we need to echo back to ourselves:
“for he has been good to me.”

We have difficulty seeing the sunshine when everyday is cloudy, but the sun still exists.  The goodness and presence of the Lord is still present even when our life circumstances seem cloudy.  There is “good” if you look close enough.  There is his presence if change your perspective.  He has not left you and he is certainly not against you.

Because if God is for us…

I really didn’t know any different.
I was 7 years old.  And really had just fallen in love with baseball and the Chicago Cubs. I could have named the starting lineup with position on the field and in the lineup.
I remember laying in the hallway on Sunday afternoons watching the WGN broadcast instead of napping.  I can still hear the fumbling, mumbling singing of Harry Carey of “Jody – Jody Davis”.
I thought it was always supposed to be this way.  No one had told me about 1908 or 1945 or 1969 or anything about a Billie Goat.  What I learned on October 6th, 1984 was a lesson in history and heartbreak.
The Cubs were up in the series 2 games to 1.  Game tied in the 9th at 5-5.  The most domiant closer in the game Lee Smith was pitching.  Shut the door, lights out, score a run and let’s go to the World Series.
And there over the 370 sign in right field in the 9th inning at Jack Murphy Stadium I learned my first lesson in heartbreak.  His name was Steve Garvey.
Heartbreak happens.  
At 7 years old heartbreak heals fast.  Or so I thought. But at 39 and the Cubs as good as they have been in 100 years, I still hate Steve Garvey.
A text from my dad the other night reveals everything you need to know about this type of heartbreak.  After the Cubs looked sharp in Game 1 of 2016 Divisional Series against the Dodgers he simply said “there is a lot of series left”.
Deep heartbreak has a way of building guard walls that allow a sense of anticipation with a large dose of reservations.  Once a heart is broken it is hard to trust that it won’t happen again.  Case in point the Steve Bartman game of 2003.
Heart break extends past the baseball diamond that sits on the corner of Waveland and Sheffield.  Heartbreak hits at home field on every corner of every town.  Heartbreak happens.
But heartbreak should never prevent us from believing in the impossible.  I am not putting the divine on the baseball diamond, but being a Cubs fan does require a great dose of faith.  It requires the belief that what I have never seen with my eyes is possible — a World Series.  In much the same way that is faith in God.  It is trusting in an unseen God to do the things I have never seen before.  It is trusting though my heart has been broken before it won’t keep getting broken.
While I still may need counseling over 1984, I am die-hard that this is next year.  And while my heart outside of the Northside ball club has been broken even more in life, my God has shown himself able to be more faithful than Ardolis Chapman fastball.
The psalmist wrote: The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Psalm 34:18
While 2016 may result in more baseball heartbreak, I have a God that is near.  And belief that he still does the impossible.
If Steve Garvey ever reads this, I forgive you.
#justbeingjeff
Despite their best efforts Cubs win 2016 World Series. I now have peace.