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November 17 – When Trouble Comes

Read: Ezekiel 35:1-36:38, James 1:1-18, Psalm 116:1-19, Proverbs 27:23-27

Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. (James 1:2)

Relate: It was back in the 80′s when Russia was doing its best to bring Afghanistan under its thumb. Officially the US wasn’t in the conflict but unofficially it was doing its best to send in supplies to the Afghan freedom fighters. Colonel Sam Troutman was a part of this and went in with a supply of Stinger missiles. Everything on this mission went wrong and he was captured. A special forces fighter named John was tasked to go in and get him out.

Nothing seemed to go right for John. The freedom fighters that  were supposed to help him, at first refused to do so. The terrain itself is both unforgiving and difficult to cross. He finally does manage to pull the Colonel out but they don’t get very far before the two are surrounded by a very, very large army. The two are trapped by a few hundred soldiers, a bunch of tanks and a few helicopters. When ordered to surrender, Colonel Troutman turns to John and asks if they should. John Rambo offers up his very famous two word reply and we all are launched into a movie climax of pure joy. Grenades are launched, machine guns fired, a tank commandeered, and the enemy falls in a blaze of glory.

 

React: Of course everything above is completely fictional. Rambo 3 is one of dozens, no hundreds, of movies I could have used to illustrate my point. It is simply the first one to come to mind. The fact is every great movie has some difficulty, some conflict that needs to be overcome. For that matter, every poor movie and every TV show… even the Hallmark movies have conflict. The only movies where there is no trouble, no difficulty that must be overcome are called art house movies and are so boring (with so few people watching) that they don’t really count.

Without difficulty, there is no excitement. Without trouble, can there be any joy? So now lets flip this around. How exciting is my life? Am I actively trying to avoid conflict and difficulty? Perhaps not, but am I living an adventurous life? Am I taking risks? Am I stepping out of the boat? Or am I just drudging my way through life withing nothing amazingly good or potentially bad coming down the pipeline. Without the latter, can I really have the former?

 

Respond: You have come that we might have life… abundant life. Help me to live abundantly. Help me to be more willing to take risks. Help me to look at difficulty not as an evil to be avoided but an opportunity for joy. Help me to live the adventurous life that is part and parcel of following you.