A Year of Sabbaths (Week 33): Out of Gas

(Photo from www.starwars.wikia.com)

"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me."

(Psalm 23:4)

Our four year old son sighed, hung his head low, and said, "I'm out of gas." In that multi-verdant rain forest, he looked, I thought, a bit like an Ewok.  Maybe not quite as happy.

Our family was spending a couple of days in Northern California looking for some really big Redwoods.  (These secret Redwoods we sought were reported to be even bigger than normal Redwoods and their location was undisclosed.) Our two older boys were really getting in to the adventure...hiking trails, spanning streams, and pouring over maps. Our youngest, though, had experienced about all the adventure that he needed in his little life.

For him, the quest for the giant trees had become a soggy and senseless schlepp; not only was he out of gas, he didn't really see the point.  Gigantic trees didn't seem like such a big deal when even the ferns towered over his head as he stumbled over slippery rocks and around gigantic logs.

So we stopped.  We stayed. We had lunch in a hollow tree.  We quit looking for the secret trees and saw the beautiful scenery all around us.  After a while, our sojourn was over and our littlest explorer had a bit more gas in his tank.  At least enough to make it back to the car.

As Christians, I believe that we stop, sometimes, because we are exhausted about the prospect of continuing the journey and scrambling over one more fallen log.  We are out of gas from too much activity and not enough sleep. Sometimes we are exhausted by Holy Week. Or yard work.  Or painting the basement.  Then it is easy. We stop and take a nap.  We have a good lunch in a hollow tree and we are good to go.  At least for the rest of the week.

But sometimes we are exhausted because we see the way forward and it seems so utterly pointless and dark. In fact, we don't really see the point.  It is a deep darkness to look at your life and see it as one big, senseless schlepp.  A nap just isn't going to make that big of a difference.

However, it is then, I think...especially then...that we really need to stop. It is then that we need to be reminded that our lives don't have meaning because we have successfully discovered the secret trees. Our lives have meaning because we realize that in the midst of the quest, we don't have to be afraid...even if we utterly fail. Even if we run completely out of gas.  After all, there are still some pretty cool things to look at even in the shadows.  A friend of mine said, "You know, if there are shadow, there has to be light."  The Lord is with us.  In fact, He promised to always be with us and give us comfort. And that is gas in our tank.

By the way, the next day, our family found the really, really, really BIG trees! They are gigantic, and they are still a secret.

Church stopping. Less doing. More being.