A reminder from Rich Dixon:

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Too frequently, I forget.

I do the reading, I talk to Jesus, but life intrudes. COVID’s insidious rampage continues – so much avoidable death, grief, and division. Unprecedented storms and fires – lives uprooted, homes and businesses lost.

Yeah, I could turn it all off, pretend it’s not there. From the relative safety and seclusion of middle-class USA suburbia, I have the privilege of mostly ignoring pandemics, human trafficking, genocide, climate change, homelessness, poverty, and racism.

I’m not sure that’s a solution.

Last time I shared a link to a The Steeple Song and said the last lines, written by Don Francisco, had a lot to do with my first understandings of Jesus.

Every time you turned your head and pretended not to see

When you did it not to the least of these, you did it not to Me.

So – if turning away isn’t the answer, if I can’t ignore this horrible stuff – how do I find that sense of peace He promised?

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Don Francisco wrote another immensely powerful song called He’s Alive. I found it while searching. I clicked, listened, and thought to myself, “Oh, yeah. I forgot.

“He’s alive.”

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Maybe you’re like me. Maybe you forget sometimes. Maybe you start believing you’re supposed to solve COVID, human trafficking, poverty…

Solving that stuff is His job. He had it in His hands long before we showed up, and He never asked us to carry that burden. He asked us to do what we can, where we are, with what we have – and trust Him for the outcome.

That last part, of course, is what’s tricky. When it doesn’t happen on my schedule, or turn out the way I think it should, I get frustrated and anxious and worried. I forget.

He’s alive.