Foot locker faith

2 Peter 1:3-4 By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.

Look at these two boxes. Which one of them is more like your faith?

Faith can be like a beautiful, ornate box that we put up on the shelf, look at every now and then and find comfort that it's there, occasionally dust it off, but never really open it to see what's inside. 

Or, Faith can be like a rough looking, beaten up foot locker that is filled with all kinds of beautiful treasures, that when we open it fills our home with beauty and fragrance and faith and hope and love and joy and peace and so much more, like Pandora's box but in a good way. Here's the thing - - foot lockers belong to soldiers. When our faith is something we fight for, and fight with, when we embrace the struggles that come with not getting all of our questions answered, when we walk with Jesus through the darkest places of our life and trust him to lead us through because we simply cannot even see to put one foot in front of the other, when we trust him to guard our heart because we can't even guard our own hearts successfully because they lie to us, our faith may look on the outside like this beaten up foot locker. It's not always going to be pretty, and it's not always going to be comforting to look at. But when we open it up, it fills us beyond imagination. 

I think that's some of what Peter is getting at in these verses. We have no clue really all that is wrapped up in what we have when we are in Christ. He's urging us to find out. If your faith has been like the pretty box, I encourage you to take it off the shelf and let it get beaten up, and open it up and just find out what you're missing.

A Lament on Sabbath

Lament has been defined as "a cry to one who is there". It is an act of faith, because it's a complaint to someone we really believe can help. Holy Saturday is a perfect picture of grief. In between the loss of the one we love, and the joy of the resurrection, lies the stillness, the darkness of grief. I wrote these words to try to capture some of what the women may have been feeling on that Saturday, their Sabbath.

A Lament on Sabbath

It's over.

How can it be over?

He was doing so much good,

This miracle man,

The one who healed me.

It's over.

How can it be over?

He was completely innocent,

This holy man,

The one who set me free.

It's over.

How can it be over?

He was so young,

This God-man,

This son of mine.

It's over.

How can it be over?

Our Messiah, dead?

This can't be real.

And yet, we were there.

We saw the body taken down.

We saw the stone rolled over the tomb.

Why God?

Why did you forsake him?

What about the promises,

The freedom Messiah was to bring?

To end like this, in a dark tomb.

We'll do what we can,

To care for his body, to show him love.

Let's gather the spices,

And go to the tomb.

We'll need help with that stone.