Hold your mouth right

So there I stood on the creek bank as I cast my bait into the water.  As the bobber danced on the service of the water a question formed in my head.  "How am I supposed to catch a fish?"  So I stood there hoping that something would latch itself to my hook.  I glanced over to my grandfather as he pulled out the first catch of the day.   It was a bluegill as big as his hand.  It was a definite keeper.  I ran over to see the fish and with a beaming smile I asked "How did you do that?"  My grandfather who us grand kids called "Pop".  Pop replied "I was just holding my mouth right."

So I went back a cast my line out again and stood there for about 45 minutes contortioning my mouth in every position possible.   Then suddenly my bobber went beneath the surface.   The battle was on.  I was so excited that I almost fell off the river bank.   As I reeled him in I proudly held it in my hands victoriously.  It was my first small mouth bass.  I rebaited my hook and cast it back out into the water.  Then I stood confused.  Pop asked me what was the matter?  I said can't remember how I was holding my mouth!

Now I know this story is simple minded.  However we have all done the same thing.  We pray and ask God to answer our prayers.   We wait with anticipation and hope that He answers us.  Then we begin to do things that might get His attention.  We try the things others have done and even the things that have worked for us in the past.  However sometimes our prayers go unanswered.  Now I'm not saying there aren't things that help.  However I think sometimes we focus on our actions more than trusting Jesus to answer.  So just to let you know that there isn't some secret formula to getting the answers we want.  All I do know is that:

Jesus loves us.

Jesus wants the best for us.

So now I ride a bicycle

Having children changes you.  You see things in a different light.   Most the time I am reminded about all the crap I put my parents through and what might be waiting for me when our boys get older.  

Well in the course of raising our boys have come with a few bumps and bruises and of course bloodshed and tears.  Some of the hardest for me have come through teaching them how to ride a bike.  I got first hand view on how God must seen me.  

First, there is the actual taking them into getting on the bike without the security of the training wheels for the first time.  Totally gripped by fear they cling to the bike like it has been part of them since birth.  As I would try to steady them so we could begin our journey down the drive way they wily beg and plead for me not to let them go.  

Then of course after a few trips back forth their courage grew.  Much like how our spiritual courage grows when Jesus begins to show us how to do the things he has equipped us to do.  

Then of course comes the fateful words "Let me go Dad!"  I hesitate at first then ask them are they sure?  With a voice of excitement they repeat again "Let me go!"  So I release them and observe their victory.  Although sometimes the victory is a short lived one.  As the crash into ground scrapping the flesh from elbows and knee caps which unleashes a flood of tears.  

As they looked back at me in a moment of disbelief and anger.  The thought of how could I have let that happen to them.  Like I was the cause of the wipeout.  

I catch a glimpse of what has gone on between God and myself.  As I pint out how He failed me or didn't protect me from certain devastation.

Then I hear myself say "You're OK." as I wipe the tears from their eyes and the gravel from their wounds.  Their world has been reduced to one moment of complete terror.  

So often I have found myself in the same scenario where I ask Jesus to use me and things end up in a hurtful bloody mess.  However even though those moments take place we still get back and climb back on the bike.

Why for the moments when we don't wipeout and learn a new trick that leaves us with sense of pure nirvana!!  

So now today I ride a bicycle so I can see how Jesus might use me to help others that might feel like they wiped out or that they feel like God abandoned them.