Monday, June 23, 2014

Finding the Right Parachute Cord

I’m the skydiver who surprisingly trusts that my cord actually will pull out my parachute. The problem is, I’ve got my hands on the wrong cord.

Image from: http://wallpaperest.com/parachute-wallpaper-606770. 
You only think I’m joking.

Okay, I’ve never been skydiving and thank goodness, because the time I go skydiving will be the last time you'll hear anything come out of my mouth. I’m convinced my vocal chords would full-fledge rupture from all the screaming I’d be doing on the way down, not to mention the fact that my heart would probably explode and my eyes would pop out of their sockets and . . .


I do live in a dangerous world though. A tough world. Sometimes, life is more complicated when walking on the ground than falling from the sky (at least if you have a fully functioning parachute you're able to operate).


In this tough world, I am required to trust proverbial parachute cords to survive. Only the hopeless let go.


The problem is, sometimes, I trust the wrong cord.

I'm learning this as Jesus is teaching me the trust lessons, . . . and what cords are actually trustworthy.

I'm learning something kind of surprising to me. I don't think I'm a heretic in saying the following. I'm still forming thoughts and ideas. I think I'm on to an important truth, but beware of heretic-sounding-language:


God's actions are unpredictable and thus not trust-able. 

I know. I almost shudder in posting that, but give me just a minute. 

I look out at the sky today and see what had been a beautiful, blue-sky morning turn into a white-sky, cloudy day. The weather is unpredictable, even with the skilled instruments we have. It is unreasonable to trust something that is unpredictable. It would be illogical of me to say that I trust the weather, that I trust it will be sunny tomorrow and drizzling the next day. It is impossible to trust the unpredictable. It is impossible for me to trust God to act in a certain way . . . He acts unpredictably.

Even with that said . . . God is to be trusted, but if I'm holding on to His actions as the parachute cord I think will get me out of my ugly situations, I'm going to be surprisingly disappointed.

God's character? God's character is predictable. 
The character of God is absolutely trustworthy.

As I wait for a job post-graduation, Jesus is teaching me the ropes, . . . and what ropes are actually reliable. Instead of trusting that the Lord will most definitely have a job for me in the near future (something I would be tempted to trust, thinking that His goodness means He'll act in a way I deem good and best), He's asking me to trust Him to be all that He is for me. He will be good. He will be Provider. He will be Shepherd. He will stay true to His character regardless of whether or not I get a job in my timing.

Instead of trusting that He'll provide a spouse for me and for the friends in my life, I am asked to trust that He will be all He is for me, whether I get married . . . or am always single.

One of my professors at Multnomah taught me that disappointments are sometimes God's way of destroying the lies we believe about Him. Disappointments can often be good indicators that we're holding on to the wrong parachute cords, that we're trusting in something that is not trustworthy or that is not trust-able. When God doesn't act in the way I think He should and I am disappointed, it's a very good possibility that I was trusting Him to act in a certain way instead of trusting His character, trusting Him to act however He wishes but all out of who He is.

As I learn to trust Jesus with my present, with my desires, with my pain, with my future, with my friends, with my family, with everything, He asks me an important question. 

For what are you trusting Me? 

Am I trusting Him to act in a way that I think He should?

Or am I trusting that He will be GOD in my life and that Him being God is just enough for me? 

Life is tough. We need Someone to trust because to be honest, we're free-falling in a broken world. It is not just enough to trust Him. We need to trust Him rightly, to allow Him to be all He is in our lives instead of expecting Him to be all we want Him to be and do all we think He should. This lesson isn't easily learned, but right questions need to be asked. What are you trusting Him for today?