Radio waves

“But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord.  Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.  But do this with gentleness and respect.”  1 Peter 3:15 NIV

This morning was memorable.  I think it was the second or third door I knocked on.  It was the second time I had knocked on this door.  Last week, they were too busy.  This week, he told me he only had a few minutes.  I told him he would know if he is interested in two minutes.  He invited me in. 

Sometimes being in a hurry is more of a defense mechanism to ward off a would be salesman than it is an actual condition.  I asked health questions with really no other conversation.  Usually, you can see the hurry they are in subside if they are actually interested.  This was not the case.  He had a clock ticking in his head like he needed to be somewhere.  Long story short, he ended up buying a policy for him and his wife, who seemed like the only person in the room not in a hurry.  She was relaxed. 

While I was working, he commented on the tattoo’s on my arms.  One is a cross with my wife’s name and the names of our three kids disguised in the wood grain.  The other is a set of footprints walking up my arm.  The feet are copied from the birth certificates of each of our kids and now our grandchildren.  They sort of lead to a picture of Jordyn on my shoulder.  As I told him the story the hurry you could see him in stopped. 

He told me about his own loss, also a daughter.  She died in her 40’s after battling an illness.  Ours died in a traffic accident at 16.  We sort of compared stories and how things had been since each of them left.  I told him some of our Jordy stories and mentioned that I have learned that you can actually find peace in spite of it.  Then he said “I’ve been looking for peace since she left.  I haven’t found it yet.”

My wife and I have found it.  But we have also found that it is not a destination we reach.  Rather, it is a process that happens multiple times every day.  I like comparing it to listening to a radio while you drive.  You tune in to the station you want.  It is abstract, but the radio waves you find are always there.  They don’t start when you turn on the radio.  You find them when you turn on the radio.

As you journey through each day, peace is much like that radio wave, always there.  The source does not lose power, but we drive out of it’s range sometimes.  If you drive into a low spot, the signal starts to sound like static.  When you come back up a hill, you find it again.  The whole time the radio station does not move.  It does not change it’s frequency or it’s strength.  My ability to find it can come and go based on my location or my circumstances, but not on the source. 

It is abstract, but the peace you seek is always there.  You can only find it when you continue to seek it.  That peace can come and go based on my circumstances.  I can be in the low spot of a hard day of grief or any struggle where I just cannot find it.  But if I keep looking and stay the course, I will be able to come back to it as long as I don’t turn off the search.  The power of God is always there, all around me, all around you.

What is your biggest struggle?

Do you ever wonder why all of the hard things in life exist?  I do.  He could make my path smooth and uneventful.  But if He did, I would not be reminded just how big God is.  The peace would seem flat lined like a heart that has stopped beating.  You may have no lows, but you would also then have no high points that accentuate the very peace you seek. 

Challenge:  Keep looking my new friend, you will eventually and periodically find it, over and over again for the rest of your life.  You told me you would be contacting me again.  I will be looking forward to it.

Rick Claiborn