Going On

The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent officers to arrest him. Jesus then said, “I will be with you a little longer, and then I am going to him who sent me. You will seek me and you will not find me. Where I am you cannot come.” The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? Does he intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? What does he mean by saying, ‘You will seek me and you will not find me,’ and, ‘Where I am you cannot come’?” John 7:32-36

There are days when the worries of the present and the mistakes of the past overwhelm us all. We cannot fix the past and worrying will not really influence the present. Worrying can only freeze us into place and help us second guess. The only thing we can do is to keep going, to move with faith even when our faith has been shaken. The worst cannot happen and the best is yet to come is we can keep our eyes forward and our feet one step in front of the other.

Jesus is reluctantly attending the festival. It is a place full of people and he is the object of great controversy. He thought at first to avoid it all together but changed his mind and came half way through. He had to stand in the middle of anger and cruel words aimed at him all because he healed a man and spoke of his relationship to God. His warrant was signed. And yet Jesus went to the festival despite the anger and the hate. He went for the people who would know God's love in their lives for the first time. He went for you and me, the people who are anxious and reluctant. He went for us so that we all might live with God's love embedded within us.

Today, I ask God to help me take one step at a time. There is much to be anxious about, much to make me worry. All these things have nothing that can be done about them right now. May we trust God enough to lay all our worries at Christ's feet. May we keep going, with the knowledge that despite our lack, God will be walking with us. And may we trust that the road ahead is full of blessing, no matter how deep our fears, today.