Friday, April 20, 2007

Lawn Mower Woes

Spring is (finally, oh so finally) in the air. That means flowers are growing, trees will be blooming and the lawn will need to be mowed on a regular basis. And that’s the problem.

My poor Sears and Roebuck lawn mower has a lot of troubles. According to Bud, “the Lawn Mower Expert of Central,” here’s the list of woes: The gas tank leaks; the self-propulsion mechanism is ca-pooey; the grass catcher doesn’t “catch” much of anything (most of the clippings are blown directly into the face of the person pushing the mower, which truly heightens the grass mowing experience.); it’s missing a screw that holds the handle together (I had to borrow a similar screw from my snow blower handle. I hope I’m done with that piece of machinery for a while); the blade is so dull it would have trouble cutting through hot butter; the wheels are cockeyed; and, the crank shaft is bent in ways a crank shaft was never meant to be.

That’s a lot of problems for one mower. In fact, I would say it’s more problems than one mower should have had to endure.

If my lawnmower was a horse, it would be put out to pasture or introduced to the fine people at the Elmer’s Glue Factory.
If my lawnmower was a burger joint, the health department would have shut it down months ago.

If my lawnmower was a baseball player, it would be on the disabled list. (Unless it was a Royal then it would be the starting leftfielder… Ouch! That was a cheap shot Royals fans. I apologize. Having a mower with a bent crank shaft makes one… cranky.)

But my mower isn’t a horse or a burger joint or a ball player, it’s just a lawn mower. So it will be by the side of the road waiting for the friendly Olathe Sanitation Technician (read: Garbage man) to take it away.

Unfortunately, some people I know are a lot like my mower—oh they don’t have a leaky gas tank or a bent crankshaft (at least not that I am aware of), but they do have more than their share of problems. Financial worries, bereavement, messed up relationships, health troubles, painful memories, spiritual lapses; you name it… in nearly 20 years of full time ministry, the one thing I’ve discovered is this: people have problems. And when people have problems, they can’t wait by the side of the road for them to be taken away. Most often, they simply try to endure. They know they aren’t “cutting” it, but they usually try to keep on going. They know the engine is sputtering, but they keep hoping that something will change.

Here’s the good news: Jesus can handle all our problems! He has called on us to take our problems to him, to leave them with Him, and to trust him with our troubles. He put it this way: “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:38) Do you need a little rest? Take your troubles to Jesus and allow him to bring peace and rest and help to your weary heart. Will he mow away all of your troubles, maybe not, but he will come beside you and enable you to be victorious no matter how high the mountain or how deep the valley. Jesus really can make a difference!

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