Partner

A few months back I tweaked my neck, nothing major, just a tweak. Ten years ago I would have shaken it off and thought nothing of it, but that little tweak left a nagging pain. But, what is a little pain in the neck, right? So I didn’t think anything of it, not really. I kept going and doing just like normal. That little pain would go away in no time, or so I thought. It didn’t. That little pain kept hanging on and hanging around until it became a nuisance. Sore neck muscles. Headaches. Nothing serious, just a pain in the neck. It would go away. I just had to keep hanging in there and it would go away. . .but it didn’t.

Finally, my nuisance got the best of me and I decided I needed to do something. A visit to the doctor. Some time spent in the MRI tube. A diagnosis. I had what is often referred to as a pain in the neck. Like I didn’t know that. The prognosis? Full recovery with a little bit of physical therapy. Yuck. I have to be honest here. I really like to exercise when it is on my terms and my time. However, physical therapy sounds a whole less like exercise and a whole lot more like sanctioned physical torment for which my tormentors then have the audacity to send me a bill. When I think of physical therapy, images of sadistic medieval tormentors wearing bright colored shirts with name tags that say “Bob” fill my mind. Not my idea of a positive experience. So, I drug my feet. I just didn’t want to go. I was too busy and tied up to go. Besides, Bob scared me. Maybe my fear of Bob would make my neck feel better. It didn’t.

Finally, I had to acknowledge the truth. My neck wasn’t going to get any better if I didn’t do something. I couldn’t just keep doing the same thing every day because that wasn’t working. I was going to have to go in and see Bob and submit myself to his tortuous ways. A phone call later, I was scheduled for my first appointment with my version of “Bob.” I just knew Bob was going to hurt me. He was going to laugh at my puniness. He was going to bend me and stretch me and in the end, Bob was going to break me. I just knew that this was the end.

With one final check on the full payment of my life insurance premiums, I went to see my “Bob.” Wouldn’t you know he was wearing a bright orange shirt with a nametag? With great foreboding, he sized me up and promptly told me he was going to put me on the rack and then hook what was left of me up to a machine that plugged into the wall. Bob was going to stretch me and then electrocute me. What could I tell him? I have a name and serial number, just no rank. OH NO! This was the end. But then it wasn’t. We went through the paces and I felt a bit of relief. The rack and the electric chair, actually felt pretty good. I walked out with a little less pain in my neck and a second appointment to see my new friend Bob. I see the start of a wonderful new relationship, me and Bob and no pain in the neck.

Now, if I could just take what I have learned with my neck and Bob, and begin to apply it to my relationship with God.

A fellow traveler,

Blake

What’s my next step?

We encourage you to consider engaging in the following as a way of handing off faith in your family.

Talk with Jesus about change: The process of change is a partnership between God and us. God’s role is to do the heavy lifting on the inside. Our role is to respond to and open ourselves to the outworking of God’s heavy lifting. This can be done by responding to the desire to change as such desire speaks to the presence of God’s inner-movement in us. This week, consider leading your children to respond to God’s inner-working by acknowledging the desire for change. Each night before your child goes to bed, you might ask them how they feel on the inside. Did anyone hurt them or did they hurt anyone else? Is there anything they would like to change about how the day went? As they acknowledge the desire for change, lead them to talk to Jesus about this desire. Help them to thank him for working deep in them to show them he has something better. Lead them in offering their lives for a deeper work that will lead to a change in actions.

We encourage you to consider engaging in the following as a way of deepening your own faith.

Seek to understand your role:  Jesus knows that we need to change. He invites us to experience change by coming to him. However, change is neither our job nor his job alone. Change involves a partnership between us and God. God’s role is to do the deep work in our heart. Our role is to respond to this deep work by taking up new ways of being that reflect the image of Christ. This week, set aside some time to chat with God about how this role might look for you. Talk to him about how you have been seeking change. Ask for his input in what a partnership between the two of you might look like. Consider journaling your conversation for later reflection.