Howdy! I wanted to say greetings, but howdy is my signature go to move, so we are a little bit stuck with that . ☺️ It's kind of funny the things that can pop into our heads. I use to wrestle with our blood being blue before it hits oxygen and magically becomes red ☺️☺️. It makes perfectly good sense, because sometimes older people veins will be close to the surface of their skin and you can actually see that it's blue in color, thus the " Blue Vein Society "☺️☺️. There is this thing known as white knuckling and for some people it's an actual thing, where they can hold on to something so tight, such as a steering wheel of a car that it cause the blood flow to be interrupted to there hands , causing the skin to look abnormally white. Of course with the variety of complexions that we see in our culture that is not actually physically true for all people, even though the underlying results are the same. In broader terms it just refers to any situation that causes us to have a higher level of anxiety, often about something that is an unknown, or potentially or perceived problem or danger. We can actually find all sorts of situations and circumstances that can provoke anxiety within in us. Probably one of the more common white knuckling situations is probably associated with a roller coaster. You could find yourself in the front car hanging on for dear life, screaming at the top of your lungs and just being thankful to God that you aren't in the path of the person who just lost their lunch☺️☺️. Now days , when it comes to roller coasters, I just treat them like a Nancy Reagan, PSA for drugs, and it's a NO to maybe something a little stronger like a heck No!!. If they came with free chiropractor visits afterwards, then maybe we could talk about it ☺️☺️.
Toxic habits is another place that we encounter white knuckling. People will sometimes refer to it as" cold turkey". When it comes to substances, such as drugs, alcohol , or even smoking, which can actually change the chemical make up of our brains, I'm not really sure how effective white knuckling would be. I know that there are always exceptions to the rule and some, even if it's a few have been successful with the proper motivation. There's a ton of evidence out there now about gaming, porn, and even social media and about how it changes the complexity of our brains, so probably something else that isn't going to be conquered on sheer will power alone. Life is just never short on providing opportunities for us to have anxiety over something and the urge to feel that our only option is to some how power through.
I know that for some people's anxiety can be a crippling disorder and drugs may be a necessary option for them to pilot through life. My daughter has more or less struggled with anxiety the majority of her life and really didn't get a handle on it until she became a mom, and noticed that her boys would feed off of her anxiety, and her not wanting to pass that on, was the motivation to help her to get it under control. I remember when she was in school, she would know all of the material backwards and forwards, but as soon as she heard the word test, she would freak, the only thing that made it worse is if it was being timed, then we were talking a major meltdown ☺️☺️. I'm not one to talk with my white coat syndrome. If you aren't familiar with that one, then it's where your blood pressure is perfectly fine until a medical professional wants to check it, then it becomes some kind of rocket ship☺️☺️.
If you have been hanging out with me for a while, then you have probably come to expect at some point I'm going to flip the script, or have some weird angle which is what it was about all along, after I softened you up a bit☺️☺️. Don't run, but we are at that point in the program. This really came to my head about the things that we white knuckle about that aren't necessarily good for us. I'm specifically talking about things that God wants us to let go of, and we are holding and hanging on for dear life. I'm not really sure why we hang on to certain pains as if it's some kind of a badge of honor. Well, let's provide a little context and ease into it , instead of just going for the jugular ☺️☺️
Many years ago, I use to work in the alcohol industry. It's legal and somewhat heavily regulated. Usually!, whenever something is heavily regulated, people are usually looking for loop holes and ways to skirt around said regulations. From my perspective, it was a great job and I got to use a lot of my talents with people interactions. Company car, expense account, travel, lots of golf, and other assorted perks, but the industry at that time had a slimy underbelly. It wasn't visible to the naked eye, but very much so present. The Bible tells us if we hangout with * irreparable people, then we will become like them. I think that my grandmother use to say if you lie down with dogs, then you get fleas☺️☺️. It's usually something gradual and you just find yourself going along with the flow of things, never realizing that it's chipping away at your integrity and if you are having a great time, then you are probably a whole lot less aware of how you have moved from certain truths, and at some point you become numb to the fact that you are kicking them over at an alarming rate. There are more juicy details to this story, but what you need to know, is that I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God removed me from that job....and yes it was painful.
This is the deal, I'm talking about things that you know for absolutely 💯 percent that God's hands were trying to pry something from your hands that you were desperately trying to hold on to, maybe white knuckling like your life depended on it☺️. I'm not talking about some situation or relationship that you just gave up on and quit because it was just a teensy bit hard. I know people who don't know what it's like to try and work through a problem or hard season. They may say that they do or did, but it's just not what the evidence shows. Often it's like I'm not getting my way or this isn't what I thought it was going to be, so I'm taking my ball and going home and the game is over. ☺️☺️ Sometimes something will present itself as a series of circumstances and we have to stop and ask ourselves, what the hell was I thinking ☺️☺️. This may not be the correct presentation of it, but Often we think that we are smarter than God. We don't say it that way, but that is in fact what it is when we think that we know better, and especially when it goes against something that is so clear, that it's the very essence of black and white,....not the slightest amount of gray anywhere ☺️☺️
I'm just going to keep it real and hopefully for some it may serve as a warning, but I'm afraid for many of us , it's just a lesson from the school of hard knocks. So I said series as in it being a serial event, much like a serial killer☺️ , and that means that it's something that I have tripping over more than once and that's the trying to put a circular object in a square peg. I will say in my defense that I have had some limited success in the past, which only leads you to a false sense of security. Some of you know where I'm going with this and others are saying will you just stop beating around the bush☺️☺️. God ask the question, what fellowship does light have with darkness? Yeah!, this is about getting involved with people on the outside of the family of God. I think sometimes we think, what's the harm and before you know it, you have given your heart away to someone who has no real idea of what love or commitment is about. Someone who is surely not going to treat your heart as it should be , but more so like its a soccer ball☺️. I mean they don't have the slightest idea, and the truly sad part is that they think that they do....but no clue. Just like my job with Miller brewing back in the day, they will chip away at your integrity and before long find yourself in a place, where God has to pry that relationship from your grubby little fingers☺️☺️. They say that sin is only for a season and I can testify to the truth of that. It can be very much like a drug and get you really really high and seem like the best thing ever and feel like it's never going to end, but You know about what they say about what goes up....it will usually come crashing down all around you and leave you completely dismayed. It will sometimes take you further than you wanted to go and keep you longer than you wanted to stay☺️☺️.
I guess for you to get to the point that you know beyond the shadow of a doubt, that it's God prying some situation or person from your life, means that you have to know God and recognize His presence in your life. Otherwise it could just be some random act of bad luck or something.☺️ All through out scripture God's word presents us with options, and often they are all black and white as well. It can be as precise as choose blessings or curses, and who in there right mind is going to step up and say that I want a big old bowl of curses...but we do, when we choose to go against God's word. Our actions and choices often make us sound like Oliver Twist, and we hold the bowl out and say, " more please sir"☺️☺️, all the while we are breaking God's heart, because He has told us the right choice to make. Sometimes God's word will phrase it as choose life and not death, again who's stepping up for that one? ....but again we do. Then definitively God will tell you that the path is narrow and only a few will find it , but the broad road leads to destruction. No* ambiguity there what so ever. I think that we just snatch our hand away from God, and very foolishly yell" I got this"...good luck with that!!☺️☺️
I will tell you that I'm the poster boy for a strong willed child, it's probably some weird family tradition that desperately needs to be broken and as a dad, I fully know the pain of having to let your child go experience the pain of their choices and the consequences that go along with that. God is very much in a similar situation and He will allow us to make our own dumb and ridiculous decisions, as much as it pains Him to do so. We are an elite squad of knuckle heads that only learn by continuing to touch the hot stove and after the forth or fifth time of third degree burns , do we think, maybe this isn't such a good choice after all☺️ . Some of us are just wired that way with a full tilt towards independence and doing it our own way and then subsequently trying to distance ourselves from all of the damage, making great excuses and pointing fingers of blame every place and at everyone , but to ourselves. It's always someone's else's fault and when we get to the end of the line we want to blame God because He made me this way....poppy cock! , as the British would say. We got here by our own choosing. We thought that God's way is a kill joy and we have a better idea and a better way....but you don't ☺️☺️
Again we aren't usually big on self or personal responsibility, I really believe that it has become an abstract concept in this day and age and it's like so many other things and we want it to be relative, aka, a sliding scale☺️☺️. The end of the road , and it looks something like an abused pet. We have all seen a skittish dog, with its tail between its legs and that can become us. God's word talks about our great enemy who roams around looking for someone to devour and that , he wants steal, kill and destroy , and that's exactly what can happen to us when we leave the protection of God's love. We get beat up by this old world and it makes us run around with our tails between our legs. Instead of being more than conquers, we become the prisoners of whatever it is that we choose and allow ourselves to become enslaved to. It may not look like it, but I bet that it has a bigger and better hold on you , than you do of it, and please feel free to lie to yourself ☺️☺️. As usual, you fill in the....blank and you know exactly what it is.
The cross and the Resurrection is the greatest story in the Bible to me, because everything else hinges on the empty tomb and a body that did not see decay, but the one that warms my heart the most is the story of the prodigal son, and maybe because I have been on both sides of the story. There is no place we can go, or thing that we can do, that God's love for us is not waiting for us to return, and He does it with open arms. I'm speaking from experience when I tell you that the party is over , resource diminished and so called friends abandon you , but that God is always there . He's not just there, but He's been waiting for you, for long as it takes. He's not waiting to condemn you or slap you around with a lot of " I told you so's" Just as with the prodigal son and the father clothing him with the best robe that he had, God wants to cloth you in His love and warm embrace. He's been waiting to restore you, to restore you to your proper place as a beloved son or daughter. I often wonder if this is the origin of the saying that, " There is no place like home". There is truly no place like home. The comfort and safety, and just the shear knowledge of this is exactly where you belong and no other place even begins to come close or gives you the feeling of belonging, and that your place is secure and that your place is reserved for you and you alone. No one else can take that spot because it's yours and all yours, and it's a place that you were created to perfectly fit into.
The world is broken and I don't know what kind of vision you would have to possess to not see that, because even blind people are aware of that fact. Institutions are all failing because of imperfect human beings, but for me the one and only exception to this is the family of God. It's not perfect either, for the very same reason, imperfect people, but God is the head of His family and He is constantly transforming it and making all things new. It's another one of those things that isn't always visible to the naked eye, but God changes hearts and minds each and every day. The question today is are you tired of white knuckling it and hanging on to things that God wants you to let go of? and to be able to experience, what freedom, true freedom really feels like. It's officially spring and maybe we may need to do a little spring cleaning and get rid of some of the junk that we have been holding on to and keeping us from living our best lives. Name it and be honest with yourself, if its a job, that you shouldn't be at , some vice that is taking more than it's giving, or some person or relationship that may not be the best for you. Name it , and let it go, and especially if its just old painful memories.
