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“All human beings face challenge and pain and demands.”

A thought by John Ortberg (2014-04-22) from his book, Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You (p. 127). Zondervan. Kindle edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

by Rodney H. Young
And I’m sure that is true of you especially at this time of the year. We’ve survived Black Friday and Cyber Monday but there are still more days to come.

John tells of a Christian psychiatrist named Frank Lake and that he worked with many people who wanted to serve noble causes, but the stress and demands and difficulties got to them, and soon they became drained and bitter and cynical and discouraged.  Life can do that.  But he got together with the great Swiss theologian Emil Brunner and they looked at the life of Jesus and wondered how He handled it.

They saw that “Jesus faced enormous stresses and difficulties and pain. Yet he never got sarcastic or cynical or unloving or burnt out. No one took away his joy.”  What did He do that made such a difference? 

“When they looked at Jesus’ life, they saw a pattern to it, different from the pattern of the lives of the missionaries Frank Lake saw burning out. All human beings face challenge and pain and demands. Jesus, however, lived in a divine rhythm where grace was constantly flowing into him and then flowing out from him.”  Grace, He lived His life “in a divine rhythm where grace was constantly flowing into Him and then flowing out from Him.”

We are having a rainy weather here in sunny California and I need grace on the freeways of LA.  I mean don’t those people know they need to slow down with wet streets.  But grace constantly flowing into me and then flowing out from me would make a major difference in how I handle this day and every other day as I drive in this busy, busy city.  And that is just one area of my life.  But that is a great place to start.   And I pray that I can live in that divine rhythm where grace constantly flows into me and then flows out from me.  It starts in my soul.

 What about you?

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  1. Laura MosleyJanuary 11, 2015 at 4:06 PM

    Hi Bill, the picture of the Hummimgbird in the rain is my brother's copyrighted photo taken in his backyard in Satsuma, Alabama. He has taken some amazing pictures of Mobile Bay Sunsets, delta area birds and especially loved his hummers. This one was his favorite. He died at age 49 of lung cancer two years ago. He never got recognition for his photos because he died before ever having a show for his work to be seen. Please give recognition to my greatly missed brother, Rodney H. Young. Thank you

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