(complete text today, not a recap)
"I
thought I’d bring my tool box in today.
It’s filled with wrenches... box and open end.; sockets and drivers; monkey
wrench; screwdrivers, multi-meter, etc.
It
weighs 46 lbs (now I know why these are called wrenches… carry this long enough
and you’ll wrench your back!)
That’s
a lot of stuff to lug around for mechanical emergencies.
To be
able to present a lesson each week a minister has to always be on the lookout
for ways to make a point. We use a number
of resources: our own lives, we share with and get help from other ministers;
there is the news, observation of life going on around us and of course, from
our reading.
This is
a story that came to me two weeks ago.
It was told to me by Jim Lee. Jim
is a Unity minister in Detroit
and he said he read this story and that is purported to be true. Thank you, Jim, for your inspiration
It’s the
story of one 10-year-old boy who decided to study judo despite the fact that he
had lost his left arm in a devastating car accident.
The boy
began lessons with an old Japanese judo master. The boy was doing well, so he
couldn't understand why, after three months of training the master had taught
him only one move.
"Sensei," the
boy finally said, "Shouldn't I be learning more moves?"
"This
is the only move you know, but this is the only move you'll ever need to
know," the sensei replied.
Not
quite understanding, but believing in his teacher, the boy kept training.
Several
months later, the sensei took the boy to his first tournament. Surprising
himself, the boy easily won his first two matches. The third match proved to be
more difficult, but after some time, his opponent became impatient and charged;
the boy deftly used his one move to win the match. Still amazed by his success,
the boy was now in the finals.
This time, his opponent
was bigger, stronger, and more experienced. For a while, the boy appeared to be
overmatched. Concerned that the boy might get hurt, the referee called a
time-out. He was about to stop the match when the sensei intervened.
"No,"
the sensei insisted, "Let him continue."
Soon
after the match resumed, his opponent made a critical mistake: he dropped his
guard. Instantly, the boy used his move to pin him. The boy had won the match
and the tournament. He was the champion.
On the
way home, the boy and sensei reviewed every move in each and every match. Then
the boy summoned the courage to ask what was really on his mind.
"Sensei,
how did I win the tournament with only one move?"
"You
won for two reasons," the sensei answered. "First, you've almost
mastered one of the most difficult throws in all of judo. And second, the only
known defense for that move is for your opponent to grab your left arm."
Our lives
can be challenging. We can feel held
back; defeated, like we can’t compete… we have trouble, trials, tribulations
and tests.
When it
comes to the little things we depend on ourselves and we say, “I’ve got it… no
problem… I’ve got it.”
Have you
ever experienced the grace of God? That
time when things miraculously went your way?
That’s God saying, “I’ve
got it.”
Y’know
what? God has it all the time.
Heb 13:5 “I
will not forsake you or leave you”
1 Cor 10:13
"There has no temptation come your way that is not common to all mankind,
but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond your strength,
but will, when you are tempted, also make a way to escape, that you may be able
to bear it."
It’s never a matter of, “I’ve got
it” on our end. God has it, and we experience it… when we go to God to be our partner in life… and we do that
with our one move.
Mine is
forgiveness.
Forgiveness
offers me all I want:
·
Peace
·
Happiness
Forgiveness offers me that.
I also want a surety that I can get
though each day and forgiveness offers me that.
Forgiveness is my one move and I
use it all the time. When I use
forgiveness it seems as though things go my way, but I don’t use forgiveness to
get a result (tho’ I’ve tried) because that doesn’t work.
I used to notice how things worked
out on a physical level but now I see how forgiveness really work on an inner
level and I experience peace… and thus it appears as though what has manifest
in my world is a result of forgiveness, but what has really happened is I am at
peace and when I am at peace what appears in my world is perceived as “good,
right, perfect.”
When
we are at peace, all is right with our relationship with the world.
Forgiveness is how I put my faith
in God. Once you put your faith in God you are able to lift yourself out of a
historical lie of the past,
and present yourself to a new way of being.
The only thing you need is one
move, and that one move will take you to God.
One move… not a heavy tool box full of this or that… but one move.
Yes, there are trials and
tribulations: lost jobs, lost relationships, lost homes, and lost loved ones.
In all of this, God will not
forsake you… something magnificent is open and available to you all the
time! And all we have to do is make that
one move to God and God will open magnificence to us that we never new existed
before.
Our life is not occurring someplace
outside ourselves, our life is occurring in God and when Troubles, trial, and
tribulation appear… go to God with your one move. God’s got this… God’s got this… G o d’ s g o t t h i s."
Bless everything,
Rev. Brad
