GROWING SEEDS: "I Know The Way Out"

"A man was walking down the street when he fell into a hole.  The walls were so steep he couldn't get out.  The man in the hole began to cry out for help.  Soon, a doctor walked by, heard the man's cries for help, wrote him a prescription, tossed it down the hole, and walked away.  Before long, a priest walked by and heard the man calling out, "Father, can you help me?"  The priest wrote a prayer, threw it in the hole, and walked away.  Finally, a friend came along.  And the man asked the friend for help.  The friend then made a bold, brave move:  He jumped into the hole.  The man who had been trapped was shocked.  "Are you stupid?  Now we're both stuck down here."  But the friend said, "Yeah, but I've been down here before, and I know the way out."

This is the gospel, folks.  God stood at the edge of a hole, and He heard people crying for help.  But He didn't write us a prescription and throw it down the hole.  He didn't pray and then walk away.  He jumped into the hole.  Jesus gave up heaven, put on skin and lived on the inside of every hole, every mess, every valley you could imagine.

He lived your life here on earth.  He knows what its like to be you.  He knows its impossible for you to get out of that hole without His help...and He hears your cries.  He WANTS to jump into that hole you're in and help you find your way out. 

JESUS IS THE LADDER. 

And He uses us, the Church, to be Hole-Hunters....Cry-Hearers....Jumper-in-ers.  And if you've ever been in a hole and are standing on the street, it means you know the way out.  Right now, all of us are in one of two places; we are either stuck in a hole.....or we're walking along the street, seeing holes all around and hearing only cries for help.

I don't know where you're at today.  Whether you're inside the hole begging for help out with a pile of prescriptions and prayers at your feet.....or whether you're on the street safe, free and rescued.  All I do know is that Jesus wants to rescue you....He wants a RELATIONSHIP with you....whether its building a ladder side-by-side or jumping down into that hole together.....

It's just that simple. 





*Thanks to Jennifer Dukes Lee for the story above