Getting unstuck

I was having a text conversation with a wonderful friend yesterday, and among the many things we discussed there was the notion that we need "something" in our lives right now that doesn't currently exist. We need a revival -- or something. We are stuck in the mud, or the car is in neutral,

Then, lo and behold this morning I read this: Sometimes it feels like good things are happening for everyone but us. Stuck in the same-old, same-old, we do our duty without a whole lot of meaningful reward. Life is blah. Days are dull. And the horizon -- we can't see a thing on it. Which makes it prime time to go opportunity-spotting.

Sure thing. Uh, how?

Let's begin by walking out of the darkness and into the light. Let's begin by eating something from the Lord of the loaf. Let's begin by reaching out instead of reaching in. Let's begin by having our cake and, well, eating it too.

It's all possible, as I read these things.

The Psalmist writes, "Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand, the son of man you have raised up for yourself. Then we will not turn away from you; revive us, and we will call on your name. Restore us, Lord God Almighty; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved."

The wonderful moment for me in scripture, perhaps the most wonderful moment in human history is when breath returns to the body of Jesus of Nazareth. I imagine it rushes in like a tsunami of air. His lungs fill, then they breathe out. It is the singular moment where divinity touches humanity and humanity not only accepts this wondrous gift, it revives, and the human whose sinew and muscle had begun the process into decay and destruction brought to the body by death.

But God resurrects.
God revives.
God unsticks the heart and blood begins to flow again. God unsticks the lungs and they breath. God unsticks the life of the one whom he sent, and humanity changes forever.

I've had, as you might have read, some stumbling blocks lately. There have been little moments and little occurrences and little problems that have come together into bigger things, and the outcome is I've been stuck. Stuck like glue on little fingers. Stuck like bloody clothing headed toward the washer. Stuck like car tires in heavy snow. Stuck.

The unstuck website tells me this. "Way back in 1969 (while I was in the 10th grade), Peggy Lee sang the Grammy-winning song, "Is That All There Is?" It's the story of a person who experiences life's milestones and ends up disappointed each tune. 'Isn't there more to life than this, the song asks? Is this all there is, all that there will ever be?"

I reckon we've all felt like that at times. The job is just a job. The spouse is as tired of things as you are. We're left wondering, "Where is my opportunity?" When and where does all the things that have me feeling stuck begin to wash back out to sea?"

Seriously. When and where, o Lord? When and where and who and what and even a big ol' helping of how?

I suspect that the answer has always been there for us. But we need to begin to view things differently to see it. Thomas Edison said, "We often miss opportunity because it's dressed in overalls and looks like work."

Opportunity, someone once said, rarely presents itself as a straight line to happiness. It's more like a nudge in our brain or a hello from a stranger. it might be something we failed at. A new problem. An old disappointment. Or even perhaps feeling so stuck that remaining the same simply isn't a choice.

A year ago on April 13, I told the congregation of three churches that we would be moving, heading into a new church, a new set of circumstances that would be fun to approach.

In Hebrews 7, the writer goes back over Abram's journey and his running into Melchizedek, a King who was Jesus in human form. Melchizedek actually means king of righteousness. "He has no beginning or end of life, but he's like God's Son and remains a priest for all time."

The point here is, in a very difficult passage to understand, is this. When humanity was stuck, lifeless, without hope on a bleak, dreary horizon, Jesus came to make a sacrifice. The writer tells us to "therefore, let's draw near with a genuine heart with the certainty that our faith gives us, since our hearts are sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies are washed with pure water."

To get unstuck, you need a savior. To get unstuck, you need a mediator, a redeemer, a force of nature that turns the unnatural upside down and sets it all free.

Stuck?

You need to be set free.

He's the way, the truth, the life. Try him this morning.