There’s not an app for that
What is the point of having a weather app on my phone? I asked myself this last week as I watched round, wet snowflakes come tumbling down at an angle from my office window. No one had warned me snow was coming. Least of all my weather app. I might as well just use a weather rock. If the weather rock is wet, it’s raining. If it’s dry, it’s sunny. If it’s white, it’s snowing. A rock would have been more useful than my phone. I felt a tinge of annoyance that all of the conveniences in my life hadn’t prepared me for the most predictable event of an Iowa winter.
Of course, I was totally prepared. I had worn my coat that morning with a pair of gloves in the pocket. I was wearing boots with a grip. Never mind the fact that I’d be spending my whole day indoors next to my cozy space heater. I’d spend maybe a total of two minutes actually out in the snow. My past experiences with winter and snow, and the advice of more seasoned Midwesterners than myself, had long prepared me for something we all knew was coming.
I realize there are moments when I have the same expectations for my faith, and even our life together, as I do for my weather app. I presume that I should be able to open the Scriptures and have it hand me the exact answer I need for the exact problem I’m experiencing. I’m a human and a sinner; there are days, too, when I expect my community of faith to meet my needs exactly as I need them met. But neither the Bible nor anyone reading this is a weather rock.
Each of us, myself included, is in a slow, long process of building ourselves and each other up for come what may. Some of us have been building our whole lives. Some of us are just getting started. Scripture and our community are not dispensaries of information, apps on our phones, or play-books. They are both given to us by God so that we might be prepared for all of life’s predictabilities: joys, hopes, disappoints, and griefs. And then, we are given over to others for their benefit.
When we participate in this huge building project of faith, we will eventually discover that we’re already prepared. We brought our coats and gloves. We have our hope and strength in Jesus, and in each other.
Sheila Mesick
Practical words for this walk of faith.
Deb Lamp
Very interesting as usual from you, I enjoyed this very much and so true