August 31, 2010
Fifty-One Percent
After the first day of school I teasingly ask seven year-old David if the teacher had given him any homework yet. He proceeded to tell me he wouldn’t have any homework until September 30th. I thought he must have misunderstood the teacher and maybe it was September 3rd. “No I’m pretty sure she said September 30th. Well, I’m 51 % sure that I don’t have any homework until September 30th.” I smiled at David’s percentage, but then realized I do something similar when it comes to spiritual attributes. Because I can’t be 100% perfect, I think in terms like 75% of the time I have self-control, or 95% of the time I have patience. No doubt there are times when my gentleness is only up to 51%.
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Gail;
-----Yesterday I was conversing with a brother who is preparing a presentation about despair and suicide for the community teens. The point of the message will be that Jesus is the answer to all of your problems. But I quickly challenged his idea, not over the fact Jesus is the answer, but about young people’s nature of needing to know and understand what is happening to them and around them.
-----It is certain Jesus is the answer, but this expression becomes more useful the more you know how He is the answer. How is He going to fix the problems in your life? Or is He only going to give you the resilience to live with problems, and actually leave them unfixed? I can understand the second possibility. Patience, forbearance, and the joy of salvation makes a person fairly impervious to many bad situations, even at the 51% level. But the problems themselves are questions begging answers, and if Jesus really is the answer to everything He would have answers for the problems as well.
-----I have been frustrated by my ‘84 Bronco since I bought it. It has long given me an insight into why Ford named this particular model “Bronco”. It bucked everywhere it went. And its average fuel efficiency has been twelve miles to the gallon. Not good for a small V-6. I tinkered with the carburetor. I replaced the distributor cap and wires, and the spark plugs, too. And still it bucked, drank gas, and barely kept up with the city speed limits. But I held my patience, which did not fix it either. I knew I didn’t know enough about its systems to solve the problem, yet, I was sure I eventually will know. So, while I drive, I always ponder the possibilities of what is happening under the hood. But I never actually have time to get under the hood and tinker, unless I am forced. When I had to replace a failed ignition switch, the bucking became less severe. Some months later, while jump starting another vehicle, I found a coil wire chewed almost in half. When I fixed that, the bucking was nearly eliminated. But still it was powerless and gas thirsty. Sunday afternoon, I thought to myself, “I solved a couple problems by just paying enough attention to notice conditions. I can spare a minute to just pop the hood and give a careful look.” So I did. And I found a disconnected vacuum hose. How simple. Almost stupidly simple. It still isn’t running great, but it is running much better.
-----This kind of helped me to understand a bit more about how Jesus answers our problems. He has a better mix of attitudes for us if we will increase the percentage of our time being humbled to them. And the more we use them, the more we find ourselves willing to actually engage the circumstances of our lives, maybe not necessarily for the effects we require of those circumstances, as much as for what better effects we can make of them. It’s kind of like, if patience is going to be 60%, then initiative and effort might ought to increase some, too. Or else nothing will get better.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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