Tuesday, April 26, 2011 - Chutes and Ladders

One of the first board games our children learned to play was the classic "Chutes and Ladders," a metaphorical term for life. The game was a great way to introduce the truth that our wise choices bring rewards and get us ahead in life while our unwise choices result in frustrating setbacks. The biggest difference between the game and life is that the roll of a a six-sided die decides where we land on the board and how well we do. An additional lesson is that a life controlled by the roll of a die would be inauthentic and disheartening.
     The group who gathered at the foot of the cross to watch Jesus die saw the cross become a ladder into God's heaven. Truth and terror reigned for unbelievers at the foot of the cross who witnessed the outburst of supernatural events at the time of His death: Mid afternoon became midnight dark without the aid of clouds or storms. Jesus took His last breath and, "At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and rocks split. Tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out o the tombs, and after Jesus' resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people. When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, 'Surely He was the Son of God!'" Matthew 27:51-54
Even in His death, Jesus offered people faith ladders to climb. When He was at His "weakest" the earth shook, people came back from the dead, and a veil, not like a bride's veil but a a heavy, ornate curtain 60 feet long, 30 feet wide, and made of 70 fabric squares the thickness of a man's palm ripped from top to bottom without human intervention. (http://www.ensignmessage.com/archives/mysteriousevents.html )
Jesus offers a ladder of faith in the middle our darkest, most terrifying days and problems.

"Therefore we do not lose heart. 

Though outwardly we are wasting away, 

     yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 

For our light and momentary troubles 

     are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. 

For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Luck lives only in the game room of my life. My daily goal is to recognize as the centurion did, that God is alive and well and placing faith ladders on my Fridays and my Sundays and on the day and days between them. 

Lord help me recognize each crisis You allow on my path to become a ladder advancing my faith. Guide me to avoid the chutes back into hopeless, helpless and self-directed pits. Open my ears to hear the ripping curtain and sensitize me to every rumble of Your Presence and Power in the middle of the tough times. Guide my heart to look for reasons to trust You more instead of excuses to fall behind.

In the Name of Jesus, limitless and Lord even in death!

Inspired by Jesus Calling

photo from photobucket.com

"Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim You, 
who walk in the light of Your presence, O Lord." Psalm 89:15