Audubon Church

Life Comes at You Fast

I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face. 3 John 14

I watch very little TV, but one of my favorite commercial series of all-time was titled, “Life Comes at You Fast” by Nationwide. Perhaps you remember them? There were all kinds of scenarios, each laughable because they were so real, and they reminded us that we can be on a planned and purposeful course one moment, and then snap, just like that, life comes at us fast. And with it and it’s insistent moment, everything changes.

As I write, just a few quick hours ago, I slowly turned a facet in our basement in the counterclockwise direction. I turned it slow and steady and with a purposeful commitment, just how the Youtube video showed. It was only one small faucet, the circular ones that I had turned countless times before. You know the ones; you’ve turned them too. And then everything changed in our home’s plumbing. Life came at me fast.

Sunday evening lesson #1 – Becoming a plumber via Youtube tutorial is not the best approach. No matter how many “likes”.

But I turned it none the less. Determinedly. With a smile. I was so sure. And now, it is Sunday evening and our home is without water and we are using buckets filled outside to flush our toilets. The family won’t look at me without smiling, trying to make it okay. They are making strange jokes to lighten the tension. I’ve commanded them to stop.

Sunday evening lesson #2 – When you need a plumber, you really need a plumber (and Sunday evening is not the ideal time to find one). Now I live with the consequences of a momentary decision. And the ones I love live with the consequences too.

If you do right, won’t you be accepted? But if you do not do right, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must master it. Genesis 4:7

While Monday’s schedule has now changed due to my plumbing project, that is not my utmost concern tonight. In recent weeks I have spoken with friends that lives changed in a moment. Sin was crouching at their door, and now they, and the ones they love too, live in its aftermath.

I have walked this same experience. I have walked with the reality of “broken bones,” as the Psalmist refers, bones broken by sin. I inherited the same gene.

So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Genesis 3:6

Paul reminds me truthfully, that in a moment, life came at me fast; faster than I could handle. And I bit down on the apple.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23

It is later Sunday evening now and the family is learning dishes will remain dirty, baths will not occur, and we are “roughing it” as we make plans to watch a Redbox. My hope in myself to resolve our water issue has vanished. My mistake has created real consequences for me. My mistake has created real consequences for my family, too.

Sunday evening lesson #3 – Plumbers are heroes and can make wrongs, right again on Monday (at least I hope so).

Sin isn’t so easily resolved. Its consequences linger. Sin memories tap our shoulders often and remind us of our humanness.

Restore the joy of your salvation to me, and sustain me by giving me a willing spirit. Psalm 51:12

Brothers and sisters that I love, may I remind you (and me) this evening, that, despite our sin, and more precisely because of it, we share a redeemer who has paid the price at Calvary. With His very life. For you, and for me. Life came at us fast. We bit down. And He paid the price and paid it in full.

When I stop and ponder such truth from Scripture, it is almost too much to consider. Understanding escapes me. This evening, I am simply in awe of Him, remembering again, when I bit down on the apple, He was right there waiting for me.

As we enter the Easter season, let us remind one another of that hope we profess as His church; a hope that has overwhelmed death and the consequences of sin. When life came at us fast.

Oh Lord, restore to me the joy of your salvation! Lord, remind me, too, that I am called; I am beloved, and I am kept by and for my Savior Jesus Christ. Forever and ever.

Newsletter: April 2020