Escaping ‘situations’ because of Jesus

Jim Honeycutt

Chaplain-Baptist Minister

Flat on my back, staring at the ceiling I mulled over how I had gotten here. Slowly, as the reality of my predicament saturated through my brain, I realized how ridiculous I looked for getting myself in this position. And my position was stuck.

Wedged between the back of the couch and the wall. I had slid a little, crawled a little, the entire length of it to plug in a cord for my heating pad. Once getting here and plugging it in, I discovered the way out was not as easy as the way in, which was crazy after just watching my 16-year-old grandson do it a week ago.

I had reasoned, “What the heck, I can do this.” Looks like I was wrong.

So, turning from my side (the way I crawled in) to my back, I thought I could sit up and push the couch from the wall. But that was a big fat no. For now, I found my problem was on my back, I couldn’t sit up. Wedged, I couldn’t turn back onto my side, so here I lay wondering.

A slight thumping on the wall told me I wasn’t alone. Looking up over the top of my head, Mac, my Vizsla, had made his way down the other end of the couch to see what I was doing.

“Mac, go get your Momma, go get Momma. She’s upstairs.”

The thumping on the wall by Mac’s tail increases in volume and speed as I speak to him. Suddenly, he backs up and takes off running upstairs. In only a few seconds I hear him running back down. Wow, he is faster than Lassie!

Looking up, I see him standing above me… holding his toy. It had been upstairs on his bed. So much for Lassie. Dropping it by my head, his tail-wagging resumes.

Chuckles escape, as the absurdity of the whole situation seems be to playing out like a sitcom from TV Land. Gilligan couldn’t have gotten stuck any better. Mac’s response is to lick my face from top to bottom. I am now laughing so hard because he thinks I am playing and tries crawling on me. Attempting to push him off, I can’t get my arms up for defense, which makes him even more exited. “Mac, enough!” I say firmly. He backs up in a wiggle, giving me an idea.

I begin to wiggle my way out, flat on my back, laughing all the way. Making a mental note, I promise myself I won’t do something this ridiculous again, but somehow I know I will. 

I haven’t always been able to laugh at myself and the situations I get myself in. There was a time when to do something like this would have caused me to explode in self anger. Yet, as I have walked with Jesus, I have come to understand the human condition better, learning to take somethings with humor. He has been patient in my maturing. 

Many of us will spend our entire physically mature lives breaking free of the shackles placed on us by adults in our childhood… some placed purposeful, some placed by ignorance.

Knowing, understanding why we do what we do goes a long way in overcoming ingrained negative patterns of behavior. Yet, the answer to our total liberation comes by taking them to the foot of the cross. Then as they are left there, transformation begins. In surrendering our bindings to Christ, there is not only peace, there is victory over our past. The totality of new life in Jesus requires we surrender not a portion but the whole of our being.

As we walk towards the liberation, heaven will bring in the Glorious Presence of our Creator. It is incumbent that we rid ourselves of the senseless baggage of an unrighteousness world. In doing so, we are freed that we may experience the fullness of our Salvation. We have been called, we have been gifted, yet the freedom of will instilled at our creation makes us responsible to choose whether we suffer under the false narrative of bondage or rejoice in the total Liberation by The Blood of The Lamb.

In Christ and through Christ, our true being is revealed. It is by His Holy Spirit’s work, through the regeneration of our spirits we are brought into full maturity in Jesus Christ. This pathway of growth is meant to teach us to trust Him in all things. For the time comes when God will no longer tolerate the unrighteousness actions brought on by immaturity within his Body.

For God so loved you, He gave His One and Only, that you, may not perish in the darkness to come. But that you might have True Life in the Light of His Presence for eternity.