Refreeze

The image of a meltdown is popular.  Whether its the girl with overactive emotions losing it and crying for hours and hours or a two-year old deciding something just isn't right and screaming at the top of his or her tiny lungs or Bob Knight throwing furniture across the court mid-tirade, we see people lose it and in the midst of their primal displays, we feel empathy.  A little amusement, some annoyance depending on the setting, but usually empathy.  We've all been there, at wit's end, ready to scream/cry/break/throw/punch or whatever verb fits your personality.

Within the next 25 days (sweet mercy...25 days...) I will put on the first retreat I've ever planned from scratch, teach 15 junior high boys about sex, finish planning a wedding, participate in that wedding, find a job for next year, find a place to live, finish up a couple of papers, and whatever else is going on that I (of course) have momentarily forgotten about.  I'm going to be under a world of stress with everyone I've really ever known watching.  Sweet.  In the immortal words of basicinstructions.net, "Heat, pressure and time...three things that make a diamond. And also, good waffles."

The fun thing is that we all seem to treat these meltdowns as world ending events.  We will NEVER recover from the disasters we currently find ourselves in. I will NEVER get these projects done. This will NEVER work.

Ha.

As far as I can tell, I've survived all the crises I've faced in my life.  Sometimes, nay, usually I even do it with flying colors.  God lets us linger in the crucible because it purifies us.  As we often talk about, when things are going well, we forget Him and assume we're doing it all ourselves.  When things get rough...we suddenly need God to help us. As if He hasn't been there all along.

So yeah, I might meltdown here in the coming weeks.  But God will freeze me back.

He always does.

"I waited patiently for the LORD; 
       he turned to me and heard my cry.

 He lifted me out of the slimy pit, 
       out of the mud and mire; 
       he set my feet on a rock 
       and gave me a firm place to stand.

 He put a new song in my mouth, 
       a hymn of praise to our God. 
       Many will see and fear 
       and put their trust in the LORD.

 Blessed is the man 
       who makes the LORD his trust, 
       who does not look to the proud, 
       to those who turn aside to false gods.

 Many, O LORD my God, 
       are the wonders you have done. 
       The things you planned for us 
       no one can recount to you; 
       were I to speak and tell of them, 
       they would be too many to declare."

Psalm 40:1-5 (Read the whole thing...it's amazing.)