The Fourth Choice
Today we decided to pick up dinner from a local restaurant instead of cooking at home. Holden would order, I would pick up, and we would be on our way to an easy meal. When I got to the restaurant, however, they told me they were out of my first choice, and I would have to order something else. Ok, I'll just have my second choice. Oh, you're out of that, too? Well the third time's the charm, right? Nope. Forth it is.
I should be used to this by now. It seems that just as we started to adjust (as much as we could) to our "new normal," it changed again. I bet if I began to count, I would find that I experience some sort of shortage or delay daily.
As I reflect on Sunday's message about preaching the gospel in ways that will reach our modern audiences and in ways that will answer the questions that are truly being asked by those around us, I can't help but relate it to my fourth dinner choice.
There was a time when Jesus was the first choice and answer to the longing for truth, beauty, and goodness. Now, it seems, he isn't the first choice. Or the second. Or even the third. And that's ok. Maybe the shortages we see around us can be a mental picture that we can take with us when we encounter people who are longing for truth, beauty, and goodness but are coming up empty.
Their first choice didn't last. The second choice never worked out. The third couldn't satisfy. Eventually, all of these spiritual shortages will provide just the right space for a conversation about Jesus. It's my prayer that the unrest we feel in the world will reveal the spiritual unrest in our hearts. Luckily for us, Jesus is way better than our first choice.
-Heather
Heather Garrett leads Regen's Prayer Team. She and her husband Holden live in Girard with their daughter Chloe and dog Myles.
