The hole in our gospel

If you were to ask me to describe to you the members of my family, until recently, I would have said, “There are five of us: Rachel, Addison, Hayden, Trek (the dog who doesn’t know he is a dog), and me.” However, recently, I would have to say that there are six of us: Rachel, Addison, Hayden, Trek, me, and Not-me.

Not-me has recently moved into our home, probably within the last six weeks or so, but I am really not sure of the exact timing as I was not aware of his arrival nor have I personally witnessed his physical presence. I have, however, witnessed his handiwork. Not-me has a knack for leaving doors open: the refrigerator door, the pantry door, the back door. (Trek loves that one.) Not-me loves to toss Addie and Hayden’s pajamas in the middle of the living room and to place toys all over their rooms. Not-me leaves napkins on the floor and dirty plates on the table. Needless to say, Not-me can be a bit of a messy. But, I am holding out for better days, because, according to Addie and Hayden, Not-me is promising to help out around the house. Not-me has promised to take out the trash, help with the lawn, and fold the bottomless pile of laundry. Not-me has toyed with the idea of emptying the dishwasher and has even vowed to consider sweeping out the garage. I am holding onto the hope that he will be good to his word, but I am not holding my breath. As of yet, I still haven’t seen Not-me deliver.

The trouble with Not-me is that he does everything and nothing all at the same time, which leaves me in bit of a quandary with what to do with him. I have to figure out something quick, because most recently, Not-me has taken up spiritual matters and started interacting with Jesus. Just the other day, I was chatting with Jesus about a few things. In that conversation, Jesus was pretty clear about something he was interested in doing. I was a little shocked by what Jesus had to say, particularly because it didn’t fit with what I thought Jesus would ask, but when I regained my composure I assured Jesus that he needn’t worry. Not-me would take care of it. The next day, Jesus and I were chatting again and the conversation once more turned to that shocking invitation. I was a bit taken aback that we were revisiting the issue and so I promised that I would loop in with Not-me as soon as possible. No worries. Not-me had it under control. You can imagine my surprise when the very next day Jesus brought it up once more. I was speechless. Why were we still talking about this? Not-me was on the job. I know he can be a bit flaky, but I am sure he will come through. After all, this is Jesus we are talking about.

This dialogue went on for a few days until finally Jesus and I sat down and he said quite plainly that the problem with Not-me doing the job was that he hadn’t asked Not-me. He had asked me. He assured me that he was quite certain Not-me was a fine candidate, but he was not the candidate chosen. He had chosen me. I balked a bit. How could Jesus ask me, ask me to do that? It was outside of my comfort zone, outside of my experience, outside of my understanding of what Jesus asked people to do. Not-me was a much better candidate. In spite of my strongest arguments, Jesus was not convinced. He didn’t want Not-me. He simply wanted me. I have a few lingering questions and I am still full of a great bit of hesitancy. I am still way outside my comfort zone but I think I am beginning to believe him that he means what he says, that he really does want me.

A fellow traveler,

Blake

What’s my next step?

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

Watch Amazing Grace: One of the highest hurdles to clear in the practice of pursuing the message of the gospel in real, practical terms is accepting the reality that God can use a single individual or family to make a difference, a real difference. Someone else always seems better suited. As an individual or as a family, consider watching the movie Amazing Grace, a modern recounting of the life of William Wilberforce and the difference this one man made when he accepted the gospel-oriented call of addressing slavery. After the movie, consider discussing how the gospel addresses real life issues and what some of these issues might be. Talk about how your family (or ponder if you are alone) might respond like William Wilberforce and how God might use you.