Devotional 2-17-13

Tempted to Trade

You are driving along in your not so exciting, ho hum, it’ll get me there car. At the stop light a much newer version of modern chariot pulls along side. You know for sure that it will get better mileage than your car currently does, it will accelerate much faster away from the light when it turns green than the ride you now drive, and you know positively that it will have that ‘new car smell’. And in a moment of remembering only the times your car wouldn’t start, that the air conditioning failed to fire on that 90 degree day and the time the anti freeze all leaked out >> you are tempted to trade.

Your house has been a good house. Your children were born here. You have so many memories. You have so m-u-c-h stuff. If only you had another bedroom or a basement or a two-car garage, and suddenly all that fills your mind is that the windows are not double pane and a few of the door knobs are ‘sloppy’, the powder room sink drips, and the furnace may be headed down its last winter road and >> you are tempted to trade.

My birthday was last month. Although I’m now past the half century mark I still remember, with a smile on my face, the cake and ice cream parties from my childhood, the singing over the phone from friends, and as I grew and moved away, the “take it to the bank” assurance that my mom was going to call me…probably at nine minutes until eleven at night (that’s 2251 military time) and recount some of the stories surrounding that January day in 1962. I was always reminded that I was actually due in March (go figure). I was always reminded that because I was born in an Army hospital (now you get the 2251) that no one was allowed in the room with the mother, and I was always reminded that because the rules said that a girl’s name and a boy’s name had to be written down prior to delivery that had I been a girl I would have been Ann Elizabeth. A story that I did not know until I was a middle teen was this: Mom was 28 when I was born. My brother had already been on the scene for two years -- that made Mom a veteran baby deliverer. The young girl (Mom said 18 years old) in the neighboring bed had just delivered her first child and was scared out of her mind. The young girl’s husband had demanded (Mom’s word) DEMANDED that she have a son. As you can imagine from the tone so far – she had a girl. Mom said that the new mother looked at her with tears streaming down her face and said, “You have one boy already don’t you? Do you want to trade?” I am as sure as I live and breathe that Mom never considered the offer. It was, however, used by me every once in a while when I would do something that earned me the mom’s raised eyebrow expression. I would say, “Hey! You had your chance to trade me and didn’t take it.” It would lighten the moment for a moment until the full weight of that statement hit us both and we would reflect and wonder whatever happened to that young family.

One of the scriptures for this time period in Lent is the Luke 4 passage about Jesus being tempted in the wilderness. The devil comes to Jesus following a 40 day fast, “If you’re God, turn this stone to bread.” He takes Jesus to a high place, “Worship me, and I will give you all of this.” One last attempt: he takes Jesus to the peak of the temple so that Jesus may throw himself down. To strengthen his case he quotes scripture, He will command his angels concerning you and to protect you.

Here’s a temptation possibility that scares me. What if the devil had taken Jesus by the shoulders, holding him upright in his weakened state and said, “Look, man. You know where you are going. I know where you are going. Are you really going to die for this Steve guy? Do you not see how many times he will disappoint you? Are you really willing to give your life? Let’s trade him in. I’ll make the bread and get you some water. You give that Steve fella to me, and we’ll call it a day. You go on your way and live, and I’ll take care of the rest.”

Every day I am grateful for my wonderful, loving parents. Grateful to Mom that Rob didn’t end up with a sister. And I am fall on my knees, press my face to the ground grateful that I don’t get traded in every time I fail to start or overheat or make Him wish that I did something or had something that I don’t. The sacrifice was beyond price, and I pray this Easter season that I/we will recognize the ‘should have been’ that we really deserve and know, as we live and breathe, that it will never happen that way.

Jesus loves me. This I know…

Steve Matthews