Happy Summer Monday Morning,
Thirty-four hundred years ago, there were some people who lived as slaves down by the waters of the Nile River. For four long centuries, they had dreamed of escaping to another land. One day a man named Moses came down from the nearby hill country and led these people in their quest for freedom. The struggle was brief but violent, and the slaves won their battle. They marched out of Egypt and were on their way to the Promised Land. But not long after the march began, the people started to murmur. Here’s what they said to the man who had led them to freedom: “Have you brought us out here into the wilderness to die? It would be better to be slaves in Egypt than to die in the desert. Take us back to the good old days” (Exodus 14:12).
The effort to find a different world and better days keeps cropping up in the records of human experience. Jesus told of a boy who one day looked down the road to a far-off country. The place where he lived seemed so drab in comparison, so he eventually left. Out there in the far country, however, he began to look back. Soon he was wishing he could go home (parable of the Prodigal Son, Luke 15:11-32).
It’s the same old story, from the sands of Egypt to the 21st Century. Most of us, at least some of the time, wish we were anywhere but where we are.
There is an old proverb that says, “Bloom where you are planted.” Happiness does not come from finding easy places. Life is exciting for those who take the tough circumstances and wrestle with them until they are different. A long time ago a man lived in a remote corner of the world. He commanded no armies, conquered no lands, and amassed no fortunes. He lived only 33 years. He took what he found and used it as he could. Today Jesus is remembered as no king, past or present, will ever be remembered. From one end of the world to the other, we observe this man’s birthday, his death and subsequent resurrection, and honor his life and teachings like no one else. Why do we remember him?
There are many reasons, but at least one of them is because he turned a manger into a palace and a cross into a throne. His life is an eternal example of what happens when you decide not to run but to stand tall where you are.
Bloom where you are planted,
Bruce Jones, Pastor
Imagine Church
