Piggy-back ride

Every now and again I like to catch one of those episodes of funny videos where someone is caught in the act of doing something just bordering on the edge of stupidity. One such video last night featured a wedding in which one of the bridesmaids wanted to have her escort hop on her back for a piggy-back ride. Let me just preface this with the fact she was about twice his size, so she may have been able to do it under normal circumstances! She was in heels, a long dress, under the influence of perhaps a little too much bubbly, and he came at her with a running start - all laying out the steps for a total flop on that idea! As you can imagine, they both ended up face first into the dance floor!  I used to be able to carry my children or grandchildren on my shoulders. I could give them piggy-back rides, supporting them when they needed a little bit of carrying to make it to the end of the journey, but that was a long time ago. If I tried it today, I'd be face down just like that bridesmaid. There is no way I could ever think I could carry them any longer, but just because I can't doesn't mean God isn't!

“Listen to me, family of Jacob, everyone that’s left of the family of Israel. I’ve been carrying you on my back from the day you were born, And I’ll keep on carrying you when you’re old. I’ll be there, bearing you when you’re old and gray. I’ve done it and will keep on doing it, carrying you on my back, saving you." (Isaiah 46:4 MSG)

God's intent in 'carrying us' isn't that we will never have to work at anything in this lifetime, but that we can always count on his support when we need it. Some of us think we need to be carried all the time - not true. If we expect to be carried all the time, we are actually resorting to the tactic of coercing God into 'pampering' us way too much. We need the strength a little hard work on our part will produce in our character. Just as with physical activity, the soul and spirit require some activity to grow strong, as well. We don't need to be carried all the time, but when we do, God is always going to do it, just as he said he would. He isn't going to let us falter, but he won't pamper us, either!

The moment we realize we have an active part to play in our spiritual growth, there is a change in our inner man that might just be a little frightening to some of us. We don't want to have to work for things in life - we'd much rather have it provided to us just like when we were infants. But...none of us remain as infants all our lives! We are expected to grow, and that growth means we will be carried some of the time, but at some point, we learn to crawl, walk, and even run. All creating a little bit of growth in us that wouldn't be realized if we were carried all the while. The 'active part' we play in our spiritual growth is what scripture refers to as obedience. The starting point of obedience is the first step. The first step requires not so much a trust in ourselves, but a trust in the one who said we could take that step in the first place!

If we want to be carried in all of life, God isn't going to let us get away with that desire. Why? He loves us too much to not give us exposure to the things that will help us grow strong in our obedience and trust. He will put us in the place where we have to trust so we develop the awareness of what or who it is we are trusting in the most. He will bring us into times when we experience fatigue and weakness, not because he wants us to hurt, but so we will know his strength bearing us up when we can no longer bear up on our own. He isn't going to abandon us, but he wants us to be able to walk equally as much as he wants us to allow him to carry us when we need to be carried! Just sayin!

Delivering on the play

We should help others do what is right and build them up in the Lord. 

(Romans 15:2 NLT)

I have to ask - when was the last time you actually can say you helped someone else do what was right, not just what was convenient or easiest? Sometimes it is the hardest thing to do to actually help someone do what is right - because it requires so much more than you might really know at the outset. There are times when doing the right thing is easy - but most of the time it requires a little more thought, effort, and even elbow-grease!

Some will think this means we just encourage one another to do what is right - like a cheerleader on the sidelines rooting for their team. If we are truthful, the game isn't won because of the one cheering on the sideline, although it may bolster the waning enthusiasm of those on the field. The game isn't even won because of the excellence of the coach on the sidelines, although his expertise may help to navigate a great strategy to further the progress of the players on the field.

The game is won by those "IN" the game! It can also be lost by those same individuals. The outcome might be changed a little by the excellent coach or the enthusiastic cheerleaders. It may even be the fans in the stands, hooping and hollering, that think they helped win the game. The ones on the field, in the game, those are the ones who know the specific and sometimes extreme effort it took to move the ball, or deliver on the play!

Looking at our passage again, we see a twofold instruction: Build up (using words of encouragement) and help (getting your hands dirty). It isn't as though my part of the job is to just give lip-service to this thing you are going through - it is that I am to give knee-service, hand-service, back-service, or whatever-is-needed service to help you actually walk this thing out on a daily basis! It is one thing to tell someone you will praying for them - it is another to walk with them through the journey! Just sayin!

What power do you hold?

"It is not so much our friends' help that helps us, as the confidence of their help." (Epicurus) Isn't it wonderful to have another to come alongside, lending that sense of confidence when ours seems to wane?  It is as though they see the wind in our sail just diminish, our forward movement begin to cease, and our burden beginning to bog us down to the place we cannot make another step.  As scripture so aptly points out, we all have a burden to bear and our own story to write - we cannot live life for another.  Yet, we can come alongside and help one who is struggling, so they might be bolstered by the confidence we can instill in that moment when theirs is far from them!

Each person has his or her own burden to bear and story to write. (Galatians 6:5 VOICE)

We don't always have to possess the answer to someone's troubles to be of support to them. I think people sometimes forget the powerful influence of just being a listening ear - comfortable to remain silent, not needing to answer every question or postulate an opinion on the matter.  You and I are not called to "write the pages" of another's story, but we might just lend them the courage to write what needs to be written, but seems a little too overwhelming to them right now!

Paul is writing to the Galatian church about the need to never let one fall into the snare of sin and just stand idly by watching while he or she self-destructs in the process.  When one gives into sin we can either watch them take that path, condemning them as they go, or we can come alongside and lend the support they need to find their way out of that pit again. It doesn't mean we become the means by which they escape the snare of sin, but we do show them they aren't without hand reaching for them.

Oftentimes all we need is that assurance we are not walking alone - even when we slip into some temptation we didn't plan on giving into.  Pete Carroll is a professional football coach. He is quoted as saying, "Each person holds so much power within themselves that needs to be let out. Sometimes they just need a little nudge, a little direction, a little support, a little coaching, and the greatest things can happen."  A little nudge - a slight pointing of direction, not so much in words as in actions - this is the support many need in order to take action which points their sail into the wind again.

We all give and get in this world - some give way more, looking as though they "get" very little in the end.  I'd like to challenge that this morning, because not everything we "get" in life is what others will see or appreciate we have received.  There is something about "getting" we may not realize at first - it isn't always about what we can hold - it may be equally as much in what we can give away!  Just sayin!