Giving Jesus the boot!
CROSS PURPOSES #79
16 March 2007
Giving Jesus the boot!
I was at a conference not long ago where a bunch of capable ‘interns’ produced a skit about a young lass who gets a car of her own. Hops in the drivers’ seat and takes it for a spin. Sees her friend Jesus along the way and invites him to drive! All’s well. Sees another friend walking by and invites him to sit in the front seat while she drives. Jesus gets asked to take a back seat!
A third friend joins the joy ride and then a fourth, at which time Jesus is given the boot! (US = trunk) Literally!
I was reminded of this while reading in a book on Prayer by Phillip Yancey. He quotes one of my all time favourite Bible verses (which I’ll freely admit I’ve been hard pressed to ever manage to achieve). It’s this:
“Be still and know that I am God”
I’m not a very good “be still” person. Not ever. Not anywhere.
Anyway, Yancey points out that the Latin version for ‘be still’ is vacate! It’s as though God says to us “Go take a holiday!”, or “Go play truant for a while!”. Go away! Vamoose! Scat! Get out of my hair!
Is that an easy thing for us to absorb? Just give him the field for a while – or in the car story – let him drive. It’s all about control isn’t it? If it’s my car (my life) I want to be the director of operations, I want to determine the journey, decide the goal. Inevitably you and I finish up at dead ends, or trapped in the flooded creek beds of life, or get caught in the blizzards from hell. We are such slow learners.
I wonder if we can learn to ‘vacate’. Could we learn that the business of life is not that we invite Jesus in as passenger? That genuine wholeness, health and purpose comes when he’s the driver. We are summoned into his journey rather than he being invited into our journey. For me it’s a trust issue. Having spent much of my life learning that I don’t give way my trust easily, if at all, I’m now called to hand it over. Scary! But Alive! Risky! But full of hope!
So there it is. Vacate!
Be blessed whatever you do this week.
Reminder that the book – ‘Shit Happens, Grace Surprises’ is available by order through
info@ferryhouse publishing.com
16 March 2007
Giving Jesus the boot!
I was at a conference not long ago where a bunch of capable ‘interns’ produced a skit about a young lass who gets a car of her own. Hops in the drivers’ seat and takes it for a spin. Sees her friend Jesus along the way and invites him to drive! All’s well. Sees another friend walking by and invites him to sit in the front seat while she drives. Jesus gets asked to take a back seat!
A third friend joins the joy ride and then a fourth, at which time Jesus is given the boot! (US = trunk) Literally!
I was reminded of this while reading in a book on Prayer by Phillip Yancey. He quotes one of my all time favourite Bible verses (which I’ll freely admit I’ve been hard pressed to ever manage to achieve). It’s this:
“Be still and know that I am God”
I’m not a very good “be still” person. Not ever. Not anywhere.
Anyway, Yancey points out that the Latin version for ‘be still’ is vacate! It’s as though God says to us “Go take a holiday!”, or “Go play truant for a while!”. Go away! Vamoose! Scat! Get out of my hair!
Is that an easy thing for us to absorb? Just give him the field for a while – or in the car story – let him drive. It’s all about control isn’t it? If it’s my car (my life) I want to be the director of operations, I want to determine the journey, decide the goal. Inevitably you and I finish up at dead ends, or trapped in the flooded creek beds of life, or get caught in the blizzards from hell. We are such slow learners.
I wonder if we can learn to ‘vacate’. Could we learn that the business of life is not that we invite Jesus in as passenger? That genuine wholeness, health and purpose comes when he’s the driver. We are summoned into his journey rather than he being invited into our journey. For me it’s a trust issue. Having spent much of my life learning that I don’t give way my trust easily, if at all, I’m now called to hand it over. Scary! But Alive! Risky! But full of hope!
So there it is. Vacate!
Be blessed whatever you do this week.
Reminder that the book – ‘Shit Happens, Grace Surprises’ is available by order through
info@ferryhouse publishing.com
posted by PastorFredVeerhuis at 2:57 PM
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