For Crying Out Loud.

I love it when you're reading along in the Bible, and all of a sudden you make some connection you never did before.  It's like it's all new information again.

I was reading today in Mark -- I know I always quote these long passages, and they're tedious to read.  So, "let me splain.  No, is too much.  Let me sum up."  (Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride):

In Mark 10, several things happen.  Jesus clarifies the whole divorce issue.  He gets irritated with the apostles for pushing away the children and makes his point there.  The "rich young ruler," as I've often heard him described, comes to Jesus and goes away disappointed.  Jesus mentions "camel" and "eye of the needle."  (huh?)  Then the apostles get into a big fuss over who's going to be the greatest in the kingdom and Jesus turns the kingdom upside-down.  Finally, blind Bartimaeus is given sight.

It's a lot crammed into just one chapter.  Makes me wonder what the guys who wrote the Bible were thinking.

Anyway, I got to the Rich Young Ruler story, and of course I start thinking of my current situation.  My husband has been without a job for 8 months now.  We've moved into his mother's house, because she's moved permanently to assisted living.  She is still sharp as a tack, and her house is relatively new.  So this is great on two accounts -- we have a place to live for free, and we get to see her every day.  Expenses are cut down immensely, because she left a full pantry and packed freezer.  And we're down to one kid in high school, so it's just the 3 of us where always it has been the 7 of us.  The other 4 are off at college.

I have many shelters in this storm of uncertainty.  God is so faithful.

And don't be fooled -- there are several down sides to this situation, and God is "challenging" us through those.  I love it when people say "challenge."  You know that word simply means hard, difficult, seemingly impossible, "I hate my life!" and "what did I do to deserve this?"   Challenge?  We say that because we want God to sound like the nice guy, not the Father who's tough and forces us to grow.

So we've got this Rich Young Ruler who has everything.  He doesn't want to give it up.  The lesson seems to be that it's harder for rich people to gain the kingdom than poor people -- camels going through eyes of needles and all that.  If this is true, it seems to me that it ought to be a piece of cake for me to get into the kingdom right now.

But this is America.  Our version of poor is not poor.  Poor is starving with no place to live.  Poor is no hope for the future, no money, no prospects.  When you're poor, you have nothing to lose.  So gaining the kingdom is easy.  There's basically nothing to leave behind that you wouldn't want to leave behind anyway.

All that said, my point is not to talk about the definition of poor.  It's to relate the story of Job to our lives here.  Think about it.  Job had to give up everything before God could give him everything.  He had to realise that in the end, God is all there is. 

Here's what made me think of that.  It's a short one this time:

^29-31Jesus said, "Mark my words, no one who sacrifices house, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children, land—whatever—because of me and the Message will lose out. They'll get it all back, but multiplied many times in homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and land—but also in troubles. And then the bonus of eternal life! This is once again the Great Reversal: Many who are first will end up last, and the last first."

OK, so He also said troubles.  But that just comes with life here on earth.  The jist of this for me is simply this -- God will take everything away, make you look straight at Him, then you realise that He's really all that is important, and then He gives it all back to you -- many times over!  He even accounts for the people in our lives that we love so desperately, that we've lost.  He gives it all back. 

And you also get all the junk that comes with real life.  You know what I mean.  The irritations and annoyances that are the gravel beneath our bare feet, the puddles of life.  The stuff that looks like a mountain and from a different perspective turns out to be a molehill.  Hey, it's an evil world.  You're welcome.

So that's what I learned today.  As always, pretty simple stuff.  Just thought I'd tell you.  And I'm telling God thank you, and wah.

xoxoxox