Greater understanding

What happened to Wednesday? Well, I hoped to post last week about Jim Terpstra's talk at our church. Instead, I got caught up in my life which included hand/foot/mouth disease. Ugh!

Jim gave an analogy at the beginning of his talk that was the best that I've ever heard. I'm going to TRY and re-tell it. I'll tell it in first person, as he did.

I went into work one morning. I opened up the office and then went into the warehouse to get that ready. I noticed that there was a bird up in the eaves trying to get out. I went and opened up the big warehouse door. Light flooded the warehouse, yet the bird continued banging against the corners and running into the eaves. I tried to shoo the bird out, to show him the big open door that awaited him, yet my efforts were futile. There is one window at the top of the building and he went and perched there, looking out the window. Perhaps he was looking out, wishing that he could play with his friends, enjoy eating great treats, and fly so very high. After gazing out for awhile, he continued to fly about high at the top of the building. Now, there is another element that I must share with you. We work with and cut mirrors and if there is an imperfection on the mirror, we use a razor blade to fix it. Our ceiling is covered with dry wall. When we were done with a razor blade, we would throw it up in an effort to get it lodged in the ceiling. Sometimes we had to scramble out of the way as a razor blade would come falling down. Over the years, hundreds of razor blades had found their way to being stuck in the drywall. I watched as the bird continued to fly about searching and searching for a way out. As it grew more and more tired, it wasn't able to avoid the beams and eventually the razor blades. As it flew into the razor blades I saw feathers drifting down to the floor and could see blood on the bird. Yet, there was nothing that I could do. The bird was determined to do it his way. Finally, the bird was so exhausted and bleeding. It fluttered to the floor. It was then that I could go over to it and show it the way out. Friends, the door is God's grace. I was so addicted and so convinced that I could do it on my own. I finally had to reach the bottom, battered and bruised before I could look up and see God's grace.

Sadly, my dad hasn't hit the bottom. Currently, he is in an assisted living facility. He doesn't want to be alone and wants people to cook for him and do his laundry. He doesn't want to work. He doesn't want to admit that he can't do it on his own. He doesn't want to meet with Jim Terpstra or our counselor Tom Kragt. They would be able to see through him deception. He doesn't want to see the big warehouse door just beckoning him to come outside, to enjoy all that God has to offer. It will be hard to see him fly into the razor blades, but he needs to hit the bottom, he needs to admit he is powerless, he needs to say he will do anything to get well. We'll keep praying.