The screen flickers to a shade of white, then it returns to the normal setting. Five minutes later it does it again. Then it fades to a bleached look, and will not return. “You’re a MAC you are not supposed to break like PCs!” I inform it. So just like that my computer screen was gone.
“Sir, it is our belief that there is no way our conveyor belt machine could have done this. Maybe you should be more careful when you set it down.” the polite chinese lady explained. “My guitar was snapped in half, I could throw it against the wall and that not happen.” I retort. She looks at me as though none of that made sense. “Thanks.” I say. And I walk away with broken pieces of wood. She was ten years old when she died. RIP Lady Taylor.
Then my debit card declined. Apparently if you don’t tell your bank, and then just start charging things in 3rd world countries, they will cancel the card. Lesson learned.
Then finding my lowest point on Christmas morning.
Confession:
I haven’t always embraced suffering well. I have even been known to look for the easy way out. Even strategically making certain responsibilities didn’t come my way. Its embarrassing to admit, but it has been true of me. If accused of being selfish, my defense would have trouble fighting the charge.
But there is something changing. New winds are beginning to move me. There is a vision that God is giving me for my life that is coming out of this brokenness and out of this suffering. No one likes to suffer. No one wants to willingly walk into it…unless.
What if all your dreams are waiting on the other side of fear? And all you have to do is cross it? What if it really was for the joy set before Him that he willingly endured the cross? What if suffering is the ferry that takes us from mediocre to the land of dreams? What if the invitation is there? The invitation to come and be made more. Maybe suffering is a tool in the hand of the creator, that I’ve spent far too much time avoiding.
Listening,
Matt
