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MONDAY THOUGHT 5/19/08

May 19, 2008 on 2:13 pm | By John Ingrisano | In Faith & Forgiveness | No Comments

Dropping the Second Shoe

I’ve spent a lot of time waiting for that second shoe to drop.  I mean, I’ve been a serious Christian for years, always trying (and succeeding about 17% of the time) to not just talk the talk of faith, but to walk the walk.  However, to be quite honest, I’ve always kept looking over my shoulder, waiting for God to kick me in my butt when I screw up again.  It was, I confess, to a large degree, a faith of fear — no, not intentionally or even obviously most of the time, but there was always that angst about when the second shoe would drop and God was gonna get me.
 
I realized I saw Jesus as Lord, God, Master.  Then, gently one day last week, in a silent mood — with a hush like a Tiger Woods putt rimming the hole and then matter-of-factly dropping in — I realized that Jesus Christ is my loving brother and my dear friend, not out to catch me when  I screw up, but there to laugh with me, share with me, guide me, and pick me up and help me on my limping journey down the road of life when I get discouraged or the pebble in my shoe (there’s that shoe analogy again) starts to feel like a boulder.  It’s pretty cool, really — a buddy and friend who loves me and cares unconditionally.  And with that simple realization — as the putt clinked into the hole and reverberated through my soul — my entire view of God and God’s love shifted so dramatically and so profoundly that I have to laugh and smile like a darned idiot.
 
My point:  God loves us.  Honest.  No kidding.  He’s not out to get us or trick us or punish us.  So, the next time you hear that corny old song, “You have a friend in Jesus,” say, “yeah, yeah, yeah, I finally get it.”  God bless and celebrate the joy that God — and ONLY God — can bring into your life.  — jri
 
“The only desire that is infallibly fulfilled
is the desire to be loved by God.”
        –    Thomas Merton