Trapped in a prison with no walls (and the way out)

You know something? God is awesome. Really. Sometimes He just shows you a brief glimpse of what we need, that brief glimpse that there is more. And it keeps us going.

I recently read the book "Sanctuary" by Ted Dekker. No, this isn't a review but if you're looking for one, I suggest going and buying it. It's THAT good. If any of you are Dekker fans out there, you know this guys is brilliant. And this is another tale that goes to show that.
    The thing about Ted Dekker books is that even when you guess at the ending, it turns out to be beautiful and heart wrenching. It uncovers truth with such stark clarity, cold and beautiful and intense that you're taken aback and when you close the cover you feel as though you've been on a journey. Because, well, you have been. A lot for a book. I know...and yet, I feel as if you love books you might know what I'm talking about. It's a peek into something....something greater. But really now, I'll just write about the book:
To explain what happens in this book would require a lot of background, a lot of the plot of the story. And I don't want to give anything away. This is a sequel to "Priest's Graveyard". It is about Danny and Renee, two who are madly in love but are separated by Danny's prison sentence (which you can find out why in the book). After Danny is newly transferred to another prison, him and Renee are both plunged into a game with deadly consequences. It's a book of intrigue and mystery, pulling you along until you are flipping through the pages with no plan to stop.
But the truth that I took away from this book is that we all have our own prisons. They may not be made with concrete or steel, but they are prisons just the same. 
    "In truth we all exist in our own sanctuaries- but I don't mean cathedrals or prisons. I'm talking about our hearts and our minds, which imprison us in anxiety, fear, insecurity, anger and other forms of misery. The walls and bars that keep most in a state on constant suffering are thoughts and emotions, not concrete and steel. It's a disease. Insanity. Most are afflicted but it, regardless of which side of the law they find themselves on or where they lay their heads at night. To be free of this is to be free indeed." Page 400.


What prisons are we living in without even realizing it? Mine would have to be the prison of fear. It keeps me trapped in doubts and worries and the enemy delights to see me trapped in it. What can we do? We cannot redeem ourselves for what a futile effort that will prove. So what do we do? Yet- But YET- there is a Savior that banishes all fear, breaking through every door and chain to save us. And then, when the pathway stands clear to freedom, He does not force it upon us but rather He waits for us to take His hand. It's our choice.


Colossians 1:13-24, "He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and has transferred us to the Kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of  sons." ESV


These prisons hold no power over us. Because we have a Savior who has come to pull us from the darkness. To Save us.

Lessons from a Pre-schooler

Sometimes God teaches us a lesson that makes us stop and wonder, how have I never seen this before? This is one of those:

I work as a gymnastics coach. And one of my most memorable experiences was one class that I filled in that was a pre-school class. Pre-school gymnastics....oh what fun! So the night before I was supposed to fill in, I sat there and prayed for patience with this class and that it would go well, and that the kids would listen because no matter how many times you yell-

And it's there that I stopped. It was one of those moments where you groan and kind of put your head into your hands. You know? I am a pre-schooler! Coaching a class of them, well it could be crazy... They have an attention span of about ten seconds. And their listening skills aren't much better. Soon you start to sound like a broken record, "Katie, sit down. Ryder, stay in line. Don't do that Jenna. Katie, please sit down. Bobby, keep your hands to yourself. Katie, sit down...." The good mood you went into the class with, doesn't always come back out.

Like them, our attention span is about ten seconds compared to God's. We can't even pray for more than five minutes! And our listening skills are worse! He tries to get through to us over and over again. He's practically shouting down at us. It's amazing that God never gets tired of us! Thank goodness God has more patience with us than I do with a bunch of three and four year olds! But even when we are like those pre-schoolers and it takes forever for God to get through to us and we don't listen and we're just running around around crazy, God loves us even then.

One of my favorite parts of coaching is when a kid gets a new skill. Their eyes light up and their so excited. And they can't wait to show the world, well at least their mom and dads. They finally understand, they finally get it. And when they look to their parents and show them, they're just as excited, if not more so, than their kid.

I wonder if God is like that when we finally learn something that He's been trying to teach us. When we finally get it, when we finally understand. I can imagine God looking down and and His eyes shining with excitement. Being our proud Father. And He can't wait for us to share it with the world.

I know I'll never know everything about God. I'm not supposed to. That's where faith comes in. But we have to be ready and listening to what God does want us to learn.

And I'm so thankful that He's so patient with this pre-schooler.

*And since then, I regularly coach pre-school classes and I love them now!