The Gift of Gettin'

"And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ."  Philippians 4:7

     You know when you know a verse and then you realize you really just thought you knew a verse?  I have read this verse, I have heard this verse, I have memorized this verse, I have used this verse to encourage people....and then tonight.....I learned that I didn't really know it.  

     I think that it is hard to know until you know....you know?  My friend Alison and I were talking about that last night.  You just can't know until you know.  You think you do.  You have perceptions of what you think you know.  But until you know...you just can't know.  Marriage.  Children.  Friendship.  Disappointment.  Success.  Failure.  Winning.  Losing.  Love.  Heartbreak.  You just don't know....until you get the gift of gettin' it.  There are many things I don't get.  And there are many things that others get more than I do.  But there are many things that I get the gift of gettin'.  It is these things that have shaped me.  Roughed me up a bit.  Grown me.  Stretched me.  Changed me.  Softened me.  Oooh, that one is important....the softening.  I want to get softer with age.  You know?  I want to become more and more tenderized.  I want to have people become more and more dear to me because I get the heaviness of that desire to be dear to someone.  Oh that others would feel dear to me.  

     So tonight I was just sitting in church and soaking in all that Pastor Jim was bringing from Luke 13:31-35.  You see Jesus was gettin' some heat.  People didn't like what He was giving.  They didn't want to pick up what He was throwin' down and you know why?  Because it would require them to bend low.  

(Oh man, I have been seeing lately as I walk more and more with the Lord....that I just didn't want to get low.  I was hearing what Jesus was saying but I was not wanting to bend low to receive it.   Humility.  Dependance.  Repentance.  That is bending low!)

Ok....So these men, who were not wanting to submit and bend low, were trying to cause Him to be fearful.  And you know what Jesus had?  Peace.  (Insert above passage read by Pastor).  I heard it and let it roll on by.  Because as I said earlier, I knew it.  And then my brain went back through said verse and I heard a new word in it that caused me to stop.  Passes.  A peace that passes understanding.  Lately, I have been craving some understanding.  Many things that are not going the way I want them to go.  Lots of unknowns.  And I just want to understand.  Even on Friday I was going to the Lord feeling anxious and wanting to understand.  And yet that stinkin word is right there, passes.  I envisioned myself in a car with Jesus.  And it hit me.  In order for me to feel the peace that only Jesus can offer, I have to allow Him to sit in the driver seat AND I have to allow Him to pass by the off ramp that says, "Understanding".  I have to ride in the car, flying by that sign and know that that is true peace.  That when I am allowing Jesus to "take the wheel" (thank you Carrie Underwood), then I do not need understanding in my life to move forward because I know "...He will keep my heart and mind."  That is complete trust.  Complete peace!  I was beginning to get the gift of gettin'!  

     You see the word pass means, "an act of moving past".  In some Biblical translations you see the word surpass which means, "greater then, exceeds".  So the peace of Jesus is an act that moves past understanding, it is a peace that is greater than understanding.  I'm Gettin' It!

     Jesus had this kind of peace.  And you know how He responded to those who were trying to dissuade Him from doing the business He was setting out to do?  He says in Luke 13:33, "In any case, I must press on today, and tomorrow, and the next day---"  Jesus was going to just pass on through, doing the business He was given to do, with PEACE!  Because don't you think allowing others to dissuade you from doing what you've been given to do, causes unrest?  Causes discontentment?  Let's move past the off-ramp that hails us to get off the road and understand each step of this life.  But yet, trust the Lord with our mind and heart AND the wheel and be like Him....Get on Gettin' on!