Chardon United Methodist Church

If anyone told you that being a Christian is easy, and that those who follow in God's way will never have heartache or pain, they lied. (and they should be ashamed, I hear that lying is a sin)   One of the most complicated issues that we face as vulnerable human beings is building trust.  It doesn't matter who you put in the equation, we have all been let down or misled at one time or another by almost everyone that we have ever met.  This commonality sometimes puts up a wall that is hard to break down, especially when we are trying to build new relationships.  So what does this have to do with God?  Well, I'm glad that you read the rhetorical question so that I could answer it for you.  Trust is something that new Christians and old Christians alike have trouble placing in their friends and family let alone a higher power that is light years away watching us from above.   We try hard not to expect the world from He who created it, but as we hear that He is so wise and powerful, and that He loves us so much, we start letting our walls down and start expecting mountains to move.  We are told even in the Great Big Book, that if we ask we shall receive, yet when we ask, we sometimes don't get what we want.  Sometimes (like the big screen TV) we're not asking for the right things, and sometimes, it isn't the right time.  But what frustrates us the most is when we want seemingly humble and selfless things like healing for those that we love the most, and angels don't immediately appear to make them well.   If God loves us so much why doesn't He help the ones we love the most?    

I like to think that I am becoming a "grown up" in my faith, because I am beginning to see that life is like one big driver's test.  God is sitting next to us with a clipboard, watching to see if we keep our hands at ten and two, and checking to see if we come to a complete stop at the four way.  He gives us opportunities to trust, to love, and to truly prove our faith in Him.  Three weeks ago Denise gave birth to our second daughter, and on that same day the basketball team that I coach upset the number two team in our league.  I remember specifically stopping to thank God, and I told Him that I would keep that day in my back pocket and remember it the next time I felt a little "unblessed".  Fast-forward a few weeks later, and my newborn is born is in an E-squad being rushed to the Children's Hospital at Cleveland Clinic with a respitory infection that can be deadly to infants.  Later that night when things calmed down just enough to think, I felt the words "why me" come to my lips, and I remembered the conversation with God only a few weeks earlier.  So I stopped and I thanked Him for the wonderful gifts that he had given me, and how lucky Denise and I are to have the things that He has so graciously given us.  And guess what, angels came into the room ad healed my daughter with magic droplets of angel water.  No not likely.  Makenna stayed very sick for several days, and had to be monitored day and night.   But something did happen though, I became filled with the peace of the Holy Spirit, and a calm came over me that I was able to share with Denise.  Because the God who has given us so much is still in control, and he knows what is best for us. 

Makenna is home now, and is doing better than any of the doctors said that she could.  (high five to God), and I feel that I passed a small part of my heavenly drivers test.  When I was given the chance to get angry at God for letting something bad happen to a two week old little child, I chose to trust and to praise Him for all that He has done for me.  That doesn't make me special; it just makes me a friend of God.  With our friends and family, do we immediately curse them and kick them out of our lives when something doesn't go the way we want?  I hope not. So why is okay to do the same to God?  Casting Crowns has a hit song called Praise You In This Storm, that talks about trusting God even when it appears that he has left us in our hour of need.  How easy it is to be strong Christian when everything is going well, but what happens when our lives are turned upside down?  Will we be strong enough and trusting enough to praise Him through the storm?  That may be the testament of true faith.  This week I pray for all of us to have the courage and perseverance that would help us lift praise to God in the storms, so that we might "grow-up" as Christians.  Have a great week and stay healthy.