What We Are Not Geared For

 

What We Are Not Geared For

     Ten, twelve, eighteen speed?  When goes the crank round, we’d expect a subsequent turn of the back wheel.  But with this the chain slips off, cutting the groove between the driven gears.  A slip of tension and the pedal drives to the bottom stroke.  This takes us by surprise.  Hence, we are not about it.

     Around us we see growth.  Nature, if left to its own, just wants to flourish.  From conception, we witness what we cannot explain.  Matter replicates itself and flesh increases.  Bone and ligament join together, supporting the frame we take for granted.  Somehow, internal organs work together in harmony recovering from illness to heal itself.

     But what happens when the body fails to recover from a dive?  Losing altitude, we watch others sometime helplessly.  Panic in the cockpit, smoke on the wing, we cannot put out the flame in flight.  Consumption rides upon the wind.  When will this end?

     We are not geared for what we see.  The sudden shock of final burning sends our crank down.  Out of time, reality does not follow anticipated rhythm.  Death comes and steals our breath.

     Life is a continuous graph.  Like a function always defined, we expect tomorrow to reflect upon the axis mirroring a drive to ride out the day.    When we find a disreputable time, there is no jump.  There is no salvation when we come to our end.

     God uses death as a blessing.  A wonderous termination of a race we could not continually run.  The finish line proclaiming our time of rest has arrived.  Our stature falls and we collapse on the track.  Again, our breath escapes us.  He calls us home.

     Those in the stands pale to see action stop.  As if the game would know no end.  Suspended animation holds attention waiting to see the next step.  Grief descends and takes its place, shrouding the encompassing light.  There is no winner, not here.

     This is why Jesus conquered.  Hope had to transcend the gap enabling us to see the other side.  When the chain slips, the plane dives, or our graph miscalculates, we have reason to lift our heads.  Jesus has taken the terror away.  Our souls are safe with Him.