Crosswalk

I usually never open emails if I can tell that they're mass forwards. But this morning I happened to open a mass forward titled "Crosswalk," and I actually found it to be pretty good. Here's what it contained:
















It ended by stating "We complain about the cross we bear, but don't realize it is preparing us for the dip in the road that God can see and we cannot."

God has been teaching me so much this semester, and this cartoon does a good job of depicting much of what He's been teaching me. God always knows what's best for us. We must trust that He sees and knows so much more than we do. Our struggles and hardships might be making us stronger for what's to come.

I especially like how this cartoon relates to waiting on the Lord. Notice how when the guy asks the Lord to cut down his cross, he doesn't wait for the Lord to answer. Instead, he takes the matter into his own hands and starts cutting away. I have found that waiting on the Lord can be the toughest part of walking with Christ, but it is such an important part.

"Experiencing God" teaches that waiting on the Lord is often about adjusting your life to God. The adjustments might be in your thinking, your actions, your relationships, your circumstances, your beliefs, your commitments, and so on. But the point is that God is seeking a more intimate relationship with us, so He must get us to align our lives with Him and His ways and His purposes.

Let's go back to the cartoon. Maybe the guy was supposed to change his way of thinking... to learn that Christ's yoke truly is easy, His burden truly is light, and that He truly enables us to do all things through His strength.

The adjustment stage is never easy; it's almost always costly to us and to those around us. As in this case, it would have been costly to the guy because he would have to get much stronger muscles. But in the long run, it was much costlier to solve his problem in his own ways. Practically speaking, he'll have to hike all the way back and nail together all of the pieces he cut off of the cross, so that he will be able to handle the dip in the road.

That's kinda what Josh and I have been doing this semester. Not nailing together a cross, but making lots of adjustments to align our lives to God. It has been so wonderful to let Him show us what changes need to be made and to be able to fully trust that we are in His will. The waiting is not always easy, but we know that God has our best in mind and we want to be ready to hear when He tells us the next big step to take.

Anyways, that might not make sense to you, but it does to me. And I might blog more about what we've learned this semester at a later date. I just always want to be careful about what I say while I'm wrestling through certain issues, for fear that I might lead someone astray.

Side note: I wanted to quickly point out that I don't think this cartoon is supposed to represent the Body of Christ, but rather, one's individual walk with Christ. As the Body of Christ, we share all things, all struggles, all joys, etc. I could be totally off here, but I think that if it were trying to depict the Body, then everyone would be working together to carry the cross. So don't think that as a Christian, you're ever left alone to deal with your problems. You're not!