Surrender to

This blog post may end up being a jumbled mess of thoughts on my frailty.

Dang! I am more frail and fragile than I realize, and you are too.

I took my first motorcycle ride in Texas, on a crotch rocket, on the highway. Some of our best friends we’re getting married a couple years ago. My wife was in the bridal party so we got to spend a couple days in that incredibly flat and dusty state – tumble weeds and desperadoes everywhere. I, not knowing anyone but the bride and groom, got to spend a lot of time with Harry Potter and the bride’s dad. Not being the groom meant I could be boys with the father of the bride and boys we became.

In the garage were two motorcycles. There was the hog, the chopper, the throne on wheels. And then there was, at least in my eyes, the go-kart of motorcycles – that one was mine. I had never rode one before so Poppa Bear got me situated, and affirmed that I succeeded at stalling the bike well. Once I got the shift and rev mechanism sequence down we headed off throughout the neighborhood.

We were the dynamic duo. And I felt like I’d been riding for years.

Then we turned the corner, hit an on ramp, and sped onto the highway. *Cue soiled shorts joke here.* What?!? The highway! Does the captain know that I now  feel like I am riding on a graham cracker naked? Yeah, I’m freaked. And now I’m realizing I’m frail.

Kanye West (who may know a little more about frailty these days) dropped a flow about frailty once, rappin, “And I heard ‘em say, nothin’s ever promised tomorrow, today.” This makes we wonder how much I take my todays and tomorrows for granted.

Is tomorrow really a guarantee for any of us?

I attended a funeral this week and a couple months ago I sat in a field with a friend after his close relative died. Both occasions caused me to contemplate and accept the absence of those who were once alive. They’re gone. I’ll be gone one day.

So why do I think I’m invincible, untouchable, able to escape the thing no one has been able to run far enough away from?

I think everyone acknowledges the fact that they’re frail. They indicate this by what they surrender to.  We either surrender to ourselves and try to deny our frailty by efforts to escape or ignore the reality of death. Or we surrender to God’s salvation, a humble response to the fact of our frailty.

A writer from way back in the day named, Thomas a Kempis, reflecting on our frailty and susceptibility to sin wrote, “O how great is the frailty of man, which is ever prone to evil! Today you confess your sins, and tomorrow you commit again the sins you confessed.” But people don’t admit they struggle with sin daily, and in an attempt to flee from our flaws we surrender to ourselves. We don’t want to admit that 100% of people die either. The book of Romans tells us that, “The wages of sin is death.” Is there is a connection between our sin and our frailty.

Can we really make ourselves better?

Is self-help really helping?

The Bible is full of quotes describing life as a mist, vapor, fading like the morning dew. When I surrender to myself I reject those claims because I don’t want to have to face the reality that there will be a day I won’t exist. When people surrender to salvation they’re admitting their incapability to sin less, correct their crookedness, and escape the grave.

One of the most famous prayers of the church goes like this, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” This sounds like surrender. And surrender means giving up, giving over, and giving in. And why do we hesitate to surrender in this manner?

Because we can save ourselves.

But what are we saving ourselves from, and what are we saving ourselves for?

Let us pray, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, I’m frail.” Amen.

:: The French Pressed Four ::

: Switchfoot :: For some reason they’ve been therapeutic this week

:: Fuse Staff :: Youth ministry staff at New Spring Church…top notch kinda peeps

::: Habakkuk 3:2 :: Rocked my world all week

:::: Jay Leno Show :: He’s gonna run that 10 o’clock spot