December 15

Leaky Faith

Winter in Canada means ice hockey in Canada.  I am attempting to make an ice rink on my front lawn, about 18x24 with 8" boards around; its a great way for the kids to learn how to skate, and for the neighbours to stop by and enjoy the same.  This is my second year at this, and last year it was used more for sliding than skating but we'll give it a try again.  I recently noticed that you can buy a tarp for hockey rinks (full size), it kind of creates a big shallow tub that the water sits in till it freezes...but its fairly pricey.  I decided to go with several tarps, overlapping them nicely and covering the rink tucked in behind the 8"boards...sounds good!  Last night I started to flood the rink, seasoned rink advice says 'put the water hose in the middle, turn it on and leave it for a few hours'.  So that is what I did...only to discover my rink leaked (or should I say poured) onto the shared sidewalk in front of our home, turning my rink into a funnel to flood the shared sidewalk.  There I was, 6am this morning salting, sanding and bemoaning my lack of foresight.  The water went under the tarps where they overlapped, creating a mushy slush bed under my tarp instead of a crisp flat ice surface on top.  I have no idea how this is going to turn out, I may wait till it gets much colder to attempt to flood this again but as I watch my dreams of a rink leak onto the yard I was reminded of something.  On one hand I was challenged to stop being cheap, I should have bought the big pricey tarp, that probably would have solved most of my problems.  But honestly, I thought of our series at church right now on Galatians (weird I know), but as I watched my work turn to mush I knew there was an easier and better way, but it would cost more...I had been convinced I could jerry-rig this my own way.
In Galatians Paul is rebuking (almost pulling out his hair) at the young church for believing there was an easy way to get right with God and find peace in our lives--obey all the laws and all the rules...in essence, get really religious and God will like you and all will go well--That's how you become a good Christian!  But Paul is saying that they have become bewitched, that in the end their faith will hold no water (pun intended!), because their faith is based on their works, not the perfect work of Jesus.  Galatians 4:4-5  "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons." At the perfect time, God sent his perfect Son to be a perfect plan to restore imperfect man--the gift born at Christmas.  On this Friday, perhaps entering a ridiculous weekend of shopping, gatherings or home prep...I invite you to look at your life, pause, slow down, turn off the radio of all the distractions even for a moment...and look at what you are building your life on and around.  Faith that feels secure by your good works or by having just good things come our way (the hope of Christmas for many of us!), is like my leaky rink...unable to handle the challenges of life, embarrassing because it is obvious to others that it is not making a difference and even dangerous to others nearby.  Zechariah did not have faith to believe what the angel told him about Jesus and John, so he was struck mute till John was born to teach him to trust...that was merciful.  We have just over a week to 'get ready for Christmas', perhaps the best way to get ready is to take an inventory of your life and see if you are depending on your own wisdom and strength to jerry-rig your life--hoping you can hold it together...when in reality the seams and the layers of sin and character flaws overlap each other, letting all the joy, hope, love and peace leak out.  We hope, quite subtly that God will delight in our good works, when in the end God has made it fairly clear what he delights in:

Psalm 147:10-11
His delight is not in the strength of the horse, 
    nor his pleasure in the legs of a man,
 but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him,
    in those who hope in his steadfast love.