Flyaway
Exd
15:2 The LORD [is] my strength and song, And He has become my salvation; He
[is] my God, and I will praise Him; My father's God, and I will exalt Him.
The Olympics were a
thrill to watch. People enjoyed the Fab Five and the way they bounced and
twisted their way to gold medals. I also
love to watch my teenager compete in gymnastics. He has come a long way in a
short time. It takes three things to
excel in gymnastics – strength, balance and courage. It requires tremendous
upper body strength to support your weight, and even more to support your
weight while twisting and turning. Balance is a key part in all the events. As
exciting as the flips and handsprings are to watch, the slow, deliberate moves
are just as impressive. Balance beam comes to mind, of course, with girls
executing intricate moves on a surface less than 4 inches wide. When it comes down to it, all the strength
and balance in the world are useless without the courage to put them to
work. My son says that he is completely
capable of doing a handstand on the parallel bars but that it is terrifying to
look down and see the floor six feet away.
There is one particular move on the high bar called a flyaway. This move
involves working up momentum by swinging and then letting go of a perfectly
good bar to go hurtling through the air backwards. I confess that I watch through
parted fingers while holding my breath. Fortunately for the athletes, and the
parents, there are coaches, spotters and mats to increase safety.
In life we also need
strength, balance and courage to be successful. In West Texas we are notorious
for “pulling ourselves up by our own bootstraps”. We are self-reliant which
makes it hard to rely on God. God
understood this and addressed it. The word strength is mentioned 230 times in
the Bible. God does not endorse bootstrap pulling. Many of the verses follow
this theme;
Psa
18:2 The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength,
in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
Exd 15:2 The LORD [is] my strength and
song, And He has become my salvation; He [is] my God, and I will praise Him; My
father's God, and I will exalt Him.
2Cr 12:10 That is why, for Christ's sake,
I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in
difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
It is actually a little scary to get our strength from God either because we feel unworthy or because we have to let go of control. It is much more effective than relying on ourselves, though.
Jesus is our example when it comes to balance. In Luke 2:52 we are told he grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and Man. When things got chaotic in his ministry, He was able to go and be alone with God. I am not sure if it is a function of our society or just our human nature, but balance is so difficult to find. We have to make the effort, though.
Courage is where I often fall short. Peter gets a bad rap, but he is the only disciple who got out of the boat and walked on the water. Many times when God asks me to do something, I am afraid to start. I may be afraid that I will fail and I may be afraid that I will succeed. A good example is when I started writing in earnest. I have mentioned before that I had seven really good reasons that I should not or could not write a book and almost as many why I couldn’t write a blog. Yet here we are, 3 years and two books later. Honestly much harder than letting God take care of my stuff is letting God take care of my loved ones’ stuff. Just like I watch the flyaway stunt with parted fingers and held breath, I watch my sons take flight in their lives the same way. What if they fall? What if they can’t get up? What if they don’t need me anymore? Well, they have fallen some. I watched my older son fall hard into addiction and rage, but God was faithful and caught him in the safety mat of grace and the Holy Spirit. My younger son has had different and less visible struggles, but God has been faithful to him too.
Let God and His joy be your strength. Keep your life balanced as much as you can and have the courage to let go of your perfectly good bar. You can trust God to keep you and your loved ones safe in His grace and love.
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