Did you really think you’d been abandoned, left alone, forsaken, and forgotten?

When the job went south, the repo guy cornered you, the doctor gave the ultimatum, or the money ran out – what marked your desertion?

Was the abandonment a deep dark well filled with echoes no one heard? And lined with cold moss no one could scale? What was it like to be stuck there? How long were you there? What got you out?

Oh yes, you did get out. Somehow, some way a combination of time, friendship, and grace pulled you through – with the emphasis on that last bit. Grace. God’s gift, of either a miracle to change things, or of strength to suck it up: which did you get?

God gives both. And that’s what this Sunday is about. We hear about a man named Lazarus who Jesus raised from the dead. If a dead person can live, you can live.  If there’s hope for someone 4 days gone, there’s hope for you. Whatever situation we’re stuck in, God not only knows but is bellowing: ‘Come out!’

So drop the pity party. Put down the Kleenex. Don’t give up on God’s grace to eliminate the resistance or strengthen you to conquer it.

Happiness can return. Wholeness can come. There’s hope inside that cold, dark grave. So take heart. Don’t give up on yourself. Jesus hasn’t.

Reading

Yawning at Tigers – Drew Dyck

Alexander Hamilton – Ron Chernow
The Lean Startup – Eric Ries