Jaime

“But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’  Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”  2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV

My sophomore year of high school I decided I wanted to try wrestling.  I had never wrestled before and I actually remember the very first practice when our coach asked us how many had ever wrestled before – crickets, none of us had.  He then asked if anyone had ever seen a wrestling match, one hand went up and it wasn’t mine.

If you do follow wrestling, most of the really good ones start young, like five years old.  I started when I was 15 years old.  Somewhere during the first few practices the coach explained weight classes to us, what a cool concept – wrestling against guys the same size as you.  I wrestled in the 167 pound class.  It’s embarrassing how far above that weight class I am right now.  I remember him telling us we needed to find some guys who could wrestle in the lighter weight classes.  The hardest one to fill was the 98 pound class.  He told us to keep our eyes open.

I went to a high school called Sumner Academy of Arts and Science, which had been called Sumner High School.  It was created due to desegregation laws as a result of Brown vs the Topeka Board of Education.  This was when forced busing took place in Kansas City and it really was forced.  I have a lot of stories about that period of time. 

Rather than desegregating alone, the school district turned Sumner into a college prep school.  I mention it now to point out that we had a lot of tiny little geniuses walking around.  I found one named Jim, who qualified for the 98 pound class with room to spare.  I think I noticed he was walking around with a calculator in his shirt pocket or something.  I don’t think I asked him as much as I told him he needed to be at practice that afternoon.  Starting that day, we became best friends and still are today.

After high school we spent some time at various locations in Kansas City and in Manhattan, where he went to Kansas State.  It was during that time I discovered something about Jaime (we had to take three years of foreign language so I called him Jaime instead of Jim).  He could be kind of obnoxious.  Never to me, just usually to the largest male in the room – remember he weighed 98 pounds.

I honestly do not know how many times he scurried in asking me to help him.  The conflict was always related to the smallest guy in the room trying to get under the skin of the largest and he enjoyed it.  I developed a pretty good tolerance for it and could talk around most of the conflict.  Sometimes he would then pick the second largest in the room and start all over.  He was consistent and he needed someone to cover for him.

I realized today that maybe I am a lot like Jaime to Jesus.  I can float in and out of situations that cause varied degrees of stress.  I can pick a fight with the biggest problems I face rather than hand my problems to Jesus then turn right around and pick another fight.  No matter what I hold up to Him, grace covers it. 

I used to wonder if Jesus got tired of me running to Him every day needing His grace.  Now I realize that He willing to extend grace to me multiple times a day.  I don’t know that my behavior is worse.  I think I am more aware of my complete inadequacy to handle things myself.  I need someone to cover for me. 

To whom or to what do you turn when faced with a battle?

Like me, do you sometimes wonder why you picked a battle to fight instead of just standing calmly next to Jesus?

Challenge:  Realizing and accepting exactly how saved I am.  In school we learned that absolute zero is the complete absence of heat.  Grace becomes the complete absence of sin when I accept that grace from Jesus.  Every time I fight my own battles I lose.  Every time I run up and tell Him about the battle chasing me, He takes up the fight for me, and wins.