Helpless Shoes Part-Two

Did you bring your swim suit?

Listen, the thought of Jesus being helpless in any shape or form is beyond my thinking. But I know His voice, and I know what He said to me as I was sitting at that alter. The reason I know is because once I agreed to embrace "Helplessness" the sweetest peace I have ever felt swept over me. I had never felt praise and adoration as I did that minute. I knew I was changed. A chain had been lifted. I was free. Free to dance in hot pink shoes!

The thought of Jesus being helpless was too much for my brain to comprehend. I mean He was God! He calmed the wind and the waves, He raised Lazarus from the dead! He healed every kind of sickness and even legions of demons ran at the command of His voice. Helpless? How can God be helpless?

So for the past year and some odd months I have prayed, studied, and meditated on this concept. My definition of helpless is that of being weak, without control, powerless. God is none of those! So what does helplessness mean to Jesus that it is part of Him.

Recently, while telling this story I recalled another time I had felt that kind of peace. In that moment, an illustration came to mind. I know this is long but here comes the good part. Get ready to swim.

When I was 16 my family was camping at Myrtle Beach, SC. It was the first morning and we all got up and hurried to the ocean to play in the waves. The water was a little rough that day but we were use to it being that way. We were only in water about 3 feet deep jumping over the waves. We decided to get out. When I took my first step my feet left the ground and I couldn't put them down. I was caught in a riptide! My monster man of a cousin grabbed me and I felt safe...for 2 seconds because it pulled us both out from the shore fast. Soon we were over our heads and in trouble. (What I did not know at the time was He could not swim!) We went under several times before my dad reached us. Now my dad is my super hero! A policeman, great swimmer and extremely strong! So again I felt safe. Down we all three went under! What! What did I just hear? No way! Dad is yelling for help! Dad never needs help! Sheer panic of the worst kind! Under we went 3 more times each time we broke water dad and I yelled for help! These two men held me up the longest before fighting the current, would force us all under. I looked around no one was near us. Not behind us, not to either side, and we were to far from the closest person trying to swim out to us. Under we went. I had been praying from the moment I heard dad yell for help, and as we went under this time, more tired and going in deeper, I felt that peace. I thought, this is what it feels like to die. I wasn't scared. I was free. I felt dad pulling me to the top of the water. Once I broke free and grabbed a breath of air I noticed that I had been thrown onto a small float. A pool float. A man was sitting on it like a horse! It was unbelievable! Where did he come from? The float is too small to hold him like that? How is he sitting there? My dad said, "I can't hold them any longer." The man calmly said, "Give them to me." Now, I know my dad looked at him like he was crazy! Then the man leaned over and pulled my cousin straight out of the water and laid him across the float! Logic and physics say that he couldn't do it but he did! We made it back to shore and as we went to thank the man on the float he was gone. My dad asked several people who were helping us on shore what happened to the man? Their answer was the same..."What man? There was no one but you. Lucky you were able to get a hold of this float."

Was we helpless in that water? YES! But as life guards now warn you, if you get caught in a rip tide don't fight it....Float...relax and try to move perpendicular to the current to get out of it. The more we fought and used our own strength, even that of my dad who is a strong swimmer, the more we became helpless to the currents control. The man or angel (which ever you choose to believe...I'll take the later) on the float did not fight. He let go of His control to that of the water, and to God, then and only then was he able to rescue all three of us. From this memory I can now understand Jesus being helpless. He let go of His own God strength to trust us as a baby, to trust the earth to provide for Him and His commands, and to trust God even when He turned His back on Him at the cross the moment He died. "My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me."
Helplessness means letting go of my inadequate control and floating upon God's ultimate riptide! Then and only then are we able to ride the wave of full power. Helpless is not powerless...it is ultimate power...not my own but Gods!

Let go my control freak sisters... lets go ride the waves!