Sticky Grace

(Today I am opening up this space to my long-time friend Dr. Larry Lacher.  Larry was in my youth group in Albuquerque and is now senior pastor of First Church of the Nazarene in Roswell, New Mexico.  

I've watched as Larry has taken his calling to the ministry from this first days of experiencing the call to the full-blown blossom of having an active and effective ministry as a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  It is my great pleasure to have Larry speak to us today.)

When I was about five years old, my big brother took me out one afternoon to teach me how to ride a bicycle.  I remember that he taught me all about balance and how the work the pedals.  He even taught me how to steer.  I think, however, that I was not listening when he taught me how to use the brake.

He asked me if I was ready, and I said that I was, so I mounted the bicycle and he took his position behind and gave me a great push.  I traveled free for several hundred feet before I began to veer toward an empty lot.  I remember seeing the lot and noticing that it was full of cactus bushes.  That’s when I realized that I did not know how to stop the bike.  The next moment, I slammed right into the middle of a cactus bush—bike going one direction and body going another.

In an instant, my brother was there to extract me from the sticky mess I had gotten into.  He shepherded me and the bent bicycle back home where he spent the next several minutes removing cactus spines from the body of a whimpering five year old with a pair of pliers.

While I cried and moaned and begged that he would stop because he was hurting me, he held me tightly in his arms and patiently removed the spines one by one until all the ones he could see were removed.  Then, when I thought I could escape the pain, he ran his hands over my skin, lifted my shirt and inspected my chest and my back, and carefully examined every inch of my body to make sure that the tiniest sticker was removed, knowing that it would become infected if he did not get everything.  Finally finished, he dried my tears and declared that we would try again tomorrow. 

Now that I am an adult myself, I find that I still get myself into sticky situations because I am not listening closely to God or because I head off in reckless abandon at full speed without really knowing how to slow down.

When I crash, God treats me like my brother did.  Rather than scolding me for my inattention, He plucks me out of the thorny situation I find myself in and begins the process of healing.  Sometimes, I do not like the way that He inspects me and picks at me.  I would rather He just leave me alone in my misery.  So, I squirm and complain and cry out.  Still, God holds me close in His arms and gently plucks out the things in my life that are causing me pain and sorrow one by one. 

When I think He has it all, He presses His gaze even closer, plucking out the tiny fragments of sorrow and disappointment until everything that might fester and infect is removed.  Then, he bathes me with His love and anoints me with His Spirit and completely heals me from the mess I got myself into.  He smiles in love, dries my tears, and says, “Let’s try again tomorrow,” and promises to be with me until I get it right.  Then, we will ride together and experience places that I have not yet imagined existed.

 Dr. Larry Lacher

Roswell First Church of the Nazarene