Michael Yaconelli in his book, “Messy Spirituality,” cited one of the precious Peanuts cartoons with Lucy at her 5-cent psychology booth. Charlie Brown stops by for advice and Lucy proceeds:
“On the cruise ship of life,” she says, “Some people place their deck chairs on the rear of the ship so they can see where they have been. Others place their deck chair at the front of the ship so they can see where they are going. Which way is your deck chair facing Charlie Brown?”
Without even pausing, Charlie Brown responds, “I can’t even get my deck chair unfolded!”
I’m sure we can all identify with good old Charlie Brown. I’m sure deep down inside everybody feels like we just can’t quite get that deck chair unfolded.
Uncertainly, confusion, feelings of helplessness and loss are our tickets into the great Super Bowl of life. Somehow, it doesn’t feel so bad if we sense others are facing the same issues that we are. AND THEY ARE!
C.S. Lewis noted that if he accepted Christ and all of the implications of him crucified and resurrected, everything made sense. But on those doubtful days when he struggled with faith, everything became cloudy.
The good news for those of us who do not have the art of “deck chair unfolding” figured out is that Jesus does not care if I have it figured out or not. He just came to love and heal. Furthermore, I think that if we did have everything all figured out, we would not need him…and that spells trouble of a major kind.
At the end of the day, all that matters is that we understand that Jesus came to love and to heal. AND, as Max Lucado said, “No wonder they call him savior!”
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