Hold On!

I wish is had a blood pressure cuff this past week. I was at home with the family. We had the television on. And a political ad came on. I couldn't believe it. The election was over. Aside from being a wast of money because they aired the commercial at the wrong time it was a waste of my time because, like most people I got pretty sick and tired of those ads and I didn't want to hear one more word about it. I started going into a tirade and wasn't a couple of sentences into it when I noticed the commercial started moving in fast motion. I hadn't realized until that moment that the program we were watching was recorded from the week before and now my loving wife was kindly fast forwarding it to spare me the pain of watching one more moment of it.

A moment of pause would have done me well. A moment of reflection and patience before speaking would have saved me some grief. Fortunately, only my family was around to see this embarrassing display. With out saying a word; with out a gesture or a glance' with the quick action of the remote control my wife said “hold on!”

That's a multipurpose phrase, “Hold on”

“Hold on” can mean to pause as my wife's actions suggested. Its what you say when you are wanting to catch up to someone, getting them to wait. Its what you say when you are challenging someone on an idea. You ever done that? It seems to happen more around election season. Someone is passionate about a subject and they are going on and on and at some point they cross a line that you cannot agree with so you stop them with a “hold on.” I wonder what the criteria is, for some people when forming their political opinions. It ought to be be based on the great commandments of God but I am convinced that's not always the case. What is the line that some one crosses that causes you to say, “Now hold on!”? It's interesting to look inside and investigate where our biases come from.

Jesus gave the disciples a “hold on” in the scripture today.

Jesus and his disciples were walking out of the temple and they were awestruck by the immensity of the place. And Jesus told them not to be so impressed because all this is temporary. Well scripture has Jesus saying, “ Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left on another. All well be torn down.”

These guys were small town fishermen and they were with Jesus in Jerusalem, in the temple which was at that time one of the wonders of the world. And Jesus was saying that this marvel was temporary. Ti must have seemed unbelievable.

This week in history 25 years ago, in 1987 I was a small town boy getting ready to play in the state championship football game in the Pontiac Silver-dome. We came out of that tunnel for a short practice onto that field that two nearly years before Barry Sanders ever did. My coach, taking a cue from the movie The Hoosiers, pulled out a tape measure and measured a yard and, yep, it was a regular ole yard, 36 inches. And now The Silver-dome goes unused.

This is a temporary world with temporary things and temporary problems. Jesus disciples wanted to know when the destruction of the temple would happen. They wanted dates. They wanted a time line. They wanted a heads up or a warning. But Jesus gave them a “hold on.” There will be people who will try to use events to try to claim to be the Christ but don't you listen to them. Jesus in his loving care didn't address their question directly but warned them about the dangers of their way of thinking. We ought not be looking for signs of the end but instead we should be staying true to what God commands us.

Hold on and also mean brace yourself. There is rough road ahead. Its like when I get last second directions in the car to make a turn. I tell the kids, “Hold on!”

Do you other parents instinctively put your hand in front of your child in the passenger seat to protect them? We do that I a lot of ways not just in the car. We try to keep those we love safe in a world that is dangerous and full of things we cannot control.

When we face difficulties, sometimes the only thing we can do is hold on, to minimize the loss or the damage. That feeling of being out of control is not one that we desire. This is a dangerous world. We can marvel at a sunset over Lake Michigan and say that God is good but then we also have to look at the devastation that Hurricane Sandy has wrought and hold on to the same understanding of God. God is still good. There are some who say that this storm or that storm is a judgment by God about this or that action of a people. That doesn't make much sense to me. Does that mean that we northern Michiganders get punished with dangerous blizzards every January and February for our sins? Only to be rewarded with heaven on earth every summer and fall? No its just a dangerous world we live in. Bad things happen. During the good times we rest in God and During the rough times we hold on and rest in God. Jesus said that there wold be wars and rumors of wars. Jesus said that there would be earth quakes and famines. Hasn't this happened many many times in the past 2000 years? Hasn't there been many predictions of the end of time that have come and gone? Has that been spiritually profitable to anyone? The current one that is getting attention is the end of the Mayan calendar. I know its frustrating when you get to the end of the calendar you are using and have to buy a new one, especially when it's been carved out of stone and is centuries old but time marches on and we have something eternal to hold on to.

That's another way to use the phrase “Hold on”. Keep secure what is true and valuable. Hold on to my grandmothers frog that was her door stop for all the years of my life. But even as solid and as permanent as it seems it is temporary so I don't hold to tightly. Hold on to what is eternal. Hold on to what is true: God loves you unconditionally; God took the initiative in saving you the tangle of hell you have created for yourself; Jesus is God in human form and came to give you life; Life in Jesus means life in eternity.

So, how is it with you today? Hold on! Pause and asses your situation. Hold on! It could get rough, but God is there. Hold on! Hold on to what is true and eternal.

On Kinney Down

Jay getting his glasses adjusted AGAIN. The staff at the optometrist know us well. 

Some notes from the Kindergarten Sunday School class for me.  What a delight!

This is the entrance where I get my hair cut.  I now have a barber.  Thought I have
been gong her for over a year now, I finally can call her "my barber" because there is now
that familiarity means little needs to be said.  Its a Zen-like understanding.