The Bend in the Road

"When I left Queen's my future seemed to stretch out before me like a straight road. I thought I could see along it for many a milestone. Now there is a bend in it. I don't know what lies around the bend, but I'm going to believe that the best does. It has a fascination of its own, that bend, Marilla. I wonder how the road beyond it goes--what there is of green glory and soft, checkered light and shadows--what new landscapes--what new beauties--what curves and hills and valleys further on."

Anne of the Green Gables, Chapter XXXVIII, "The Bend in the Road

As with Anne, and for the majority of the religious and spiritual folks, faith guides belief.  We have a faith that the best is yet to come.  Many of us understand that this belief, this faith, must be tempered by the complimenting belief that nothing is free.  Give a man a fish and he eats for a day but teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime.  Life is not always greener on the other side of the hill, and having faith that it is won't necessarily make it so.  The odds are against it, and those willing to take the gamble have to remember that God is in charge.  God is the "house" and, one way or another, the house always wins.

Betting on the Come:  A poker term.  Betting while playing a hand that you are drawing to, rather than a hand that is the best current hand.  Betting in the hope that whatever comes next will be in your favor.  Betting or hoping you will have what you want or need when the time comes.

Have you ever heard the adage, good things come to those that wait?  It is derived from a bible verse, Lamentations 3:25.  Many people excuse inaction in life, laziness, etc., because of this saying.  But, have you read the passage in context?  What it really says is, "The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who searches for Him."  A contradiction, but that is nothing new for scripture, whether Judaism, Christianity, or Islam.  In this, the hope is that you aren't just waiting for the Lord to show up.  The hope is, while you are waiting, you are actively searching for Him, His grace and love; living your life as instructed.

I much prefer another adage; God helps those that help themselves.  This is not found in biblical scripture and is attributed to either the Greek storyteller Aesop, or Benjamin Franklin.  Many find this adage to be unbiblical in its meaning and opposite of the message and intent bible that you rely totally on God to provide, that he helps those that turn to him.  They use the following passages in their argument:

"Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD."

-- Jeremiah 17:5 

"He who trusts in himself is a fool..."

Proverbs 28:26  

I see no contradiction with scripture here.  Being realistic, I think asking for God's assistance with our spiritual needs, for the strength to carry on in the face of overwhelming adversity, is exactly what the God, who endowed us with all the tools necessary to be "self-sufficient," would ask of us.  By asking for God's grace and assistance we show our desire and appreciation for God's gifts.  I would have to hope that God understands the downfall of relying of the charity of others, if everyone is relying on charity.  We prove time and again that the primary fault with communist and socialist philosophy is that, sooner or later, everyone is in the back of the wagon and nobody is pulling it.  However, if you ask God for the strength to pull that wagon, God will lift you up spiritually and give you the strength and wherewithal to carry on and overcome.  Ask yourself which makes more sense, that God will grace the selfish slackers riding in back, or the truly faithful pulling the cart?  Who has the greater faith?

"Things may come to those that wait, but only the things left by those that hustle."

-- Abraham Lincoln 

"How much of human life is lost in waiting?"

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

I started this post stating that faith guides belief, and that we have a faith that the best is yet to come.  The playwright Tom Stoppard once said, "Life is a gamble, at terrible odds - if it was a bet, you wouldn't take it."   By the same token, you're already "in the game," so to speak.  God sat you down at the table of life and you've seen the cards you've been dealt.  You can't win if you don't play, right?  So you are faced with a choice.  Bet on the come and hope for greener pastures just around the next bend, or get up from the table.  What we can't forget is asking God's assistance in showing us the way, and getting us there.  We will not get there by standing still and selfishly expecting God to do the work for us, by betting on the come.  You have to get off your lazy ass and move!  You have to use that which God has endowed you with and work for it.

"Happiness might be just around the next bend, but you'll never know if you're still sitting at home in your driveway."

-- Susan Gale, author

If you want to bet on something, bet on your ability to make more of yourself.  Bet on your faith in something greater than yourself, and bet on that faith showing you how to weather through the rough times in your life and create something better for your future.

For some of us, there will come a time in life when we understand.  Understand what?  That is for you to understand, not for someone to explain to you.  It is for you to work at discovering, not for someone to hand to you.  The gift of knowledge is of little understanding to the person that hasn't worked for it.  I'll give you a clue, though.  When you look at that bend in the road looming ominously in the distance, it isn't that you understand what, but that you understand why.

And, the brain explodes...

"Heaven knows where I'll end up - but it's a safe bet that I'll never be at the top of anything!  Nor do I particularly care to be.

-- H.P. Lovecraft, author

Note from Pastor Tony, the founder of the Congregation for Religious Tolerance, as well as the author and editor of "The Path," the Congregation's official blogsite:  

Before you go getting your panties in a bunch, it is essential to understand that this is just an opinion site and, as such, can be subjected to scrutiny by anyone with a differing opinion.  It doesn't make either opinion any more right or wrong than the other.  An opinion, presented in this context, is a way of inciting others to think and, hopefully, to form opinions of their own, if they haven't already done so.

It is my fervent hope that we keep open and active minds when reading opinions and then engaging in peaceful, constructive, discussion and debate in an arena of mutual respect concerning the opinions put forth.  After over twenty years as a military intelligence analyst, planner, and briefer, I have come to believe engaging each other in this manner and in this arena is the way we will learn tolerance and respect for differing beliefs, cultures, and viewpoints.

We all fall from grace, some more often than others; it is part of being human.  God's test for us is what we do afterward, and what we learn from the experience.
  

Frank Anthony Villari, Pastor