Didn't see that coming

            I was watching a show where the one character felt they were useless. They kept repeating they had nothing to offer the world. It was a Doctor Who story and the character chose a different path. That path ruined the world. Who knows what would happen if we chose a different path in life. It might turn out well, or could something else be lurking in the darkness of time.

            I say darkness of time because we can’t see what might have happen. We can’t see what could happen. My uncle said that the next thing is the most important. Whatever it is, it’s next. That is so simple. Maybe it’s silly, but is it? What is the very next thing you are to do? What if you had a chance to refuse it? A path is a path. We chose and we reject. Yet, in everything we do, we do it without full knowledge of the outcome. Oh, sure we think we know, but time after time we say I didn’t see that coming.

            It would be sad to hear someone say they were useless. It also might be sad to see a life stand still. I know several people who are afraid to move forward. They experienced a mistake and shudder to try again. I have also met a few who refuse to try for fear of failure. In all these cases, people peer into the darkness and freeze or run. These people don’t prefer the darkness, but they do fear the light.

            Putting light on things is scary. What we would see might astound us. Why peer into dark scary places? I dream in the dark. I lay in bed and wonder about the choices I have made and might make. The dark is not such a bad place. We can hide there. We can dream there and wonder there. Oddly enough we cover ourselves with blankets to hide from the dark. No. we are hiding from what is in the places without light.

            Jeremiah 29:11 says “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” God has plenty to say about the dark. I could give you many scriptures about the dark in the Bible. Yet, it’s the bright future I want to highlight. People say I can’t. People say they are afraid. In the Bible, there are no scriptures telling us God will not help us. Oh, if we refuge him then why must he beg for our mercy? God does not work that way.

            Romans 8:31 “What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” In a God book called the Bible it says God is for people. Why then do people run away from a bright future? Why do we fear trying if the chance of succeeding is there? Why reject God if he wants to help? No hope? No future? No light? That could be true for you if you chose to believe it. So, God says chose to believe in him and we could prosper. Yet, people refuse to believe in themselves and they refuse to believe in God too. Maybe many people walk around with darkness looming over their heads. They refuse to believe in anything, even themselves. Is that life? Is that existence?

            God asks for a chance and we refuse. That’s fine, it’s your choice. You look in the mirror and your image begs for a chance, yet you refuse. Instead you open a box of excuses. All are relevant if… If what? If these excuses come out of the dark and into the light. An excuse is hidden until we try. How do you prove an excuse is real? By bringing it forward and testing it. Otherwise, it’s just a theory, opinion, or observation. Clearly, it is also an excuse piled on top of several others.

            In the meantime, there you are. Hidden under a mountain of theories about you. One says your useless. Another says you can’t. The last is a frightened child deep inside you. The one hiding under a blanket in your bed. God stands somewhere else watching, waiting, and hoping to bless you with what? With the one thing, you can be sure of, “you.” Will you allow “you” to be used for good? Will you give yourself a chance? The other day someone told me they can’t write. I said it was foolish to deny us their talent by doing nothing because of fear. I fear that is how many people feel about their God given talents they refuse to share with the world.

faithcomesalive.ca