Lesson #2- Don't fear the knives!
As I mentioned in my last blog, the fiesta included some top notch entertainment. A local minister whom I had met had been raised in a children's home where he learned two unique skills: mariachi singing and machete dancing. He shared both skills as part of that night's celebration.
The singing enthralled me. The machete knives scared me, though oddly enough they also thrilled me. The thrill kept me eyes glued to the performance. The terror kept me from getting too close. I felt skiddish enough around people who swing sharp objects. This gentleman was throwing them.
Seeing the look on my face, he jokingly swung a knife in my direction. My reactions seemed to serve as reciprocal entertainment for the performer.
Amazingly enough, I did not die that night. The knives did not even touch me. Even as my new friend jested with me, he and I both knew that he was in complete control of his machetes the whole time. In the hands of an untrained performer, the machetes would have been cause for great concern and prompt evacuation. In the hands of this expert, these same instruments became a source of joy and elation, supported by an underlying security in the fact that he knew exactly what he was doing.
If I could trust my life and my safety to a man whom I had just met, than how much more can we trust the God of the universe to manage our problems, our issues, our plans... our everything?
Seriously, we humans deal with some pretty heavy, highly terrifying issues in life. When we trust anything or anyone but God to handle it, we honestly have very good reason for fear. I mean, you might as well give me a bunch of heavy knives and stand close while I swing them around. I would probably either kill or seriously mame us both; or I would drop the knives and begin weeping heavily from the stress of it all.
I am not saying that any time we mistakenly try to do things on our own we will die. God's grace is greater than our foolishness. On the contrary, when we lean into God's will, we have absolutely no reason to fear. God is the ultimate master over all things, in complete control.
Here's an old faithful promise from a well know passage in Psalm 23:
"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." (Psalm 23:4, KJV)
A more contemporary version of the Scripture says it this way:
"Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me." (Psalm 23:4, NIV 2011)
This is shepherding language. Though pretty and highly useful, sheep are about as intelligent as a box of nails, and they are completely dependent upon the shepherd to guide them and keep them safe. Though humans have higher skill and intellect that these animals, we are like a bunch of sheep when dwarfed by the immense struggles we face in life.
Fortunately, we have the greatest shepherd to guide and protect our lives, if we choose to follow. The challenge for me, and for all of us, is to align our lives under God's care, and to rest in the fact that when through obedient faith we lean into God's grace, we have no reason to fear any of the dangers of life.
This is a lesson that I am still learning. It is one that I would like to master. Who wants to live in fear of what knives might be thrown into our lives? I want to live my life in thrilled faith, hope and wonder as I experience how God masters all of life's struggle on my behalf. Whose with me?
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