A-Maze-in!

I remember, in elementary school days, being given magazines with mazes.  After some  frustrations doing it the intended way, from start to finish, I realized that starting at the end and working my way back to the start often made it far easier.  Recently, it occurred to me that life is sometimes like that.  Of course, we have to go through it from start to finish.  We

are all time travelers, traveling through time at sixty seconds per minute.  And as we navigate the maze of life, often it is difficult to see the end, the purpose in what we are going through.  We get (or feel) stuck, hit obstacles, have to find another route.  Often there is much pain and difficulty.  

But sometimes, maybe even often, if we look back, we can see the choices and the path we were intended to take, like a straight line, lit up in bright blue ink.  

For my own life, I think of getting fired from my dream job in a minor league baseball front office.  I had always wanted to be a ballplayer, but of course, you have to have at least a little athletic ability to have a chance at that.  So I found an in working at a minor league team, dreaming that I could make it to the majors as a general manager someday.  It hurt getting fired, especially since I didn’t understand why they did it, much less how my dream could end so abruptly.  But that led to a job in reinsurance, getting married to my wife of nearly 28 years now, and starting a family.  The path I had been on was not healthy and I feel certain now that God was correcting my course.  

The question we all face every day is - do you trust God?  Do you trust him to provide your “daily bread”?  As discussed previously, this is both our physical needs - enough to get through today, and perhaps tomorrow so we need not worry - and our spiritual needs, to be the bread of forgiveness that we so desperately need.

I have discovered that Philippians 4:4-13 is a practical blueprint for how to rest in God’s Peace:  Rejoice in every situation.  Give thanks for the blessings, gifts, miracles - and yes the trials and tribulations.  Pray, and literally petition your brothers and sisters in Christ to bring your requests to God.  Do not worry if you don’t understand what is happening, or why.  That is why looking back on even the hardest trials can bring understanding and peace.  

“And the peace of God, which transcends (is better than) all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus….  And the God of peace will be with you.  I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. (Philippians 4:7, 9, 12).”  What is that secret?  Trust in Him.  “All things work to good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28).”  

If you feel stuck, at a dead end, trapped, in pain, turn around.  Turn towards him.  That is what “repent” literally means.