CP 205 Wobbly self... unshakeable Lord

CP 205 Wobbly self… unshakeable Lord

One day in early High School a group of us were out riding near the old Ag College near Wagga. At the top of a hill on the way home it became – as it does - a race to the bottom. The speed was impressive until the front wheel began to wobble… I didn’t crash, but yes, I just about wet myself, and have never had the same confidence with bike-speed since. Some years later, working as a storeman at the local Woolies, I climbed a ladder to an upper-level shelf and when I got right to the top it began to wobble…

Forward another two years and I’m taking a corner too fast on the road back from Tumut. The passenger wheels get on to the gravel and the car begins to wobble… Years later I’m a young dad showing off to my kids on a water slide. I’m going too fast and next thing I’m wobbling… Fast forward and I’m swimming across the river which feeds the four waterfalls of Mitchell Falls in the Kimberlies. I haven’t gone far enough upstream and the current is too strong. My heart begins to wobble…

I’m 60 and copying the grandsons as they do tumbleturns into the pool. In I go and find I have no idea which way the surface is. Yes, I panic and my whole being wobbles... Soon after, I’m age 61 and climbing Ayers Rock. Two thirds of the way up my knees begin to wobble… and so does my courage. My confidence evaporates.

So now Fred’s 63 and often thinking about loss of confidence. One discovers limits of one’s ability and has to acknowledge shrinking capacities. However it isn’t simply about my own physical limitations and personal capacity for selfishness. My trust of institutions has wobbled because of lies and dishonesty. Successive Prime Ministers (and opposition leaders and others) are constantly economical with the truth when it suits their purposes. I lost confidence in a Bank when it cleaned out a small account I hadn’t used through fees and charges.

Did I mention Insurance Companies? Or how about our ‘family friendly’ supermarket chains which between them own the vast bulk of this country’s pokies. Salesmen and saleswomen in many industries ‘con’ me. I suppose I could mention the Media, Lobby groups, the Courts, Customs, mining contracts and practices. Maybe the Church too! Everywhere there are empires and people fight for the power the empire bestows.

It amazes me when I think about how I’ve lost confidence in myself, and about things, people and institutions I thought were rock solid, dependable, reliable and ‘forever’. At some point everything I’ve trusted seems to have wobbled. That said, there is one part of my life where my confidence has escalated as ‘other things’ crashed. And what might that gem of a shining light be?

It’s in the truth of the claims and convictions about Jesus the Christ given to us by the Gospel and Epistle writers. Is Jesus who he claimed to be? Yes! C S Lewis was right when he said that Jesus was either a liar, a loony or Lord. Lewis insisted that people needed to confront that challenge. My testimony is that the older I become the deeper grows the conviction about what took place on that first Good Friday. Jesus of Nazareth, who embodied humanity as the Son of Man, and who, as the eternal Son of God, embodied the fullness of the Holy One, was nailed to a cross and died. More than that, on that original Easter Sunday, yes, he conquered death and rose again. Even more glorious, he now exercises all authority in heaven and on earth, from the Father's right hand!

All the other hopes, and sources of hope, may have diminished or soured. But for me, the trust that Jesus the crucified is alive, that he is Lord, that his death brought forgiveness, and that his raising guarantees Spirit and Life, well, that is my foundation. He and he alone is the unshakeable rock on which I’m anchoring my life and my eternity. That is why I sing, and that is what I sing about. His Kingdom is unshakeable.

PS Every time I find a friend, a tradie, a businessman, a neighbour, a family member, a colleague, a professional, or a fellow Jesus-Christ-traveller, who is straight as a die, and who cares, I sing all the more loudly. Them people are golden gifts. I hope I can be that gift to others.

Fred