He lives

From the New Living Translation of the Bible: The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need. He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength.
Spiraling downward?
Falling?
Stagnant?
Lost?
Weak? Tired? Pained?
He lets you rest in green meadows; he leads you beside peaceful streams. He renews your strength.
Flailing?
Beaten?
Fearful?
Worried?
Anxious?
He lets you rest in green meadows; he leads you beside peaceful streams. He renews your strength.
Taking from a site called Rapture Ready (don’t know why the name), I read this: “There are many reasons why people fall into a pattern of self-destruction. We have no cut-and-dry reason one person stumbles and another avoids addiction. One individual may be born with a weakness for alcohol while another may have a natural dislike for intoxicants. Somewhere at the core of all addictive behavior is the way people deal with temptation. We can educate people, but knowledge doesn’t mean that people will automatically make the right choices. In most cases, the destructive process is hidden from the person undergoing the transformation. No one typically says, ‘I think I’ll slowly waste away my life.’ A more likely statement people end up making is, ‘How on earth did I get into this mess?’ “
Sometimes, it seems to me, the downward spiral comes because of the false nature of the mountaintop. I sure wish the mountain existed as a goal that could be not only achieved but sustained, but it’s just not the way I’ve found life.
But when the spiral begins and the falling nature seems at hand, I believe we have a shepherd. The shepherd’s job is to lead us to the green meadow, beside the peaceful stream and to allow us in the deepest, darkest part of our lives to have our strength renewed.
In August, I will reach 20 years of sobriety, 17 years of ministry, and later this month, my wife, Mary, and I will celebrate 30 years of marriage. All these landmarks are just memories, wonderful and challenging memories, memories that I wouldn’t trade for anything.
But here’s what I’ve come to discover. I recognize the sure fact that without the shepherd, without the risen Lord, I would have fallen into the pot holes of life. I have show I can’t fix myself, or anyone else.
Why does one person stumble each week, some every other day, some even every day and another stops whatever is holding them down or keeping them back and never (so far) does the destructive behavior again?
For anyone thinking I have, through my experience, learned the answer, they are wrong. I have no idea.
I just know the shepherd, I know the one who died and then returned in three days, and He knows why. I believe that.
Last weekend, I heard someone describe a basketball team, the University of Kentucky (38-0) this way: We’re not perfect, but we’re undefeated.”
Now, they might have lost last night (after deadline on this column), but I think that should probably be every Christian’s mantra. This notion that someone won’t serve someone else because they harm one’s beliefs is so misguided. You see, if Christian business owners were to stop serving sinners, they would go out of business, for we have all fallen short, wrote the only guy that talked about homosexuality in the New Testament.
We’re not perfect, but one day we will look back and see that we are overcomers. That needs to be enough to stop the downward spiral. That’s what this morning is about. Our Lord lives. He got up from the downward spiral, got up from the apparent loss, got up from death itself and walked out of the tomb.
He lives.
That’s undefeated. And perfect.