Dear Saints,
June is here and here in St. Louis we are still playing hockey! All you Stanley Cup lovers who have been waiting for the Blues to bring the cup home, well let’s just say this year your wait could be over. Go Blues!
Speaking of home and long waits, my wife and I were recently in need of a new mattress. The mattress experts say that you should get a new mattress every eight years. I think our mattress was around when Grant was president. Well maybe not that long but it had been passed down to us from my parents and I pray now as I look back that they were the original owners – ha. At any rate we knew that mattress had served its generation and more. So like any new purchase that is expensive we began our research. It’s amazing how many choices you have for a mattress. All of them have their pros and cons. Maria was excited about one mattress in particular…..”The sleep number mattress”. With this option you can set the hardness or softness of the mattress. A control will give one sleeper a different setting than the one sleeping right next to them. The larger the number the harder the mattress feels; so, a setting of 80 is pretty hard, while a setting of 40 is getting really soft. Determining upon the person’s desire, the settings can be changed. If you like a soft mattress, you can have one, and if your bend is more of a firm setting well you can go as high as a 100 or just sleep on some two by fours. It was fun finding our preferred setting. When you increase the number you can feel the air being pumped into your side of the bed, and if that doesn’t please you, just lower the number and you can feel the air leaving making your side as soft as you desire. One day while lowering my setting, I began to wonder if I try to do the same with the cross I am to be taking daily with me on my journey with Jesus. How often have I complained that my cross was too hard and big to carry? I would ask Him for a softer, smaller one to bear. Or, maybe, can I just leave it home today and take a break from carrying it? I would point out that I have carried my cross now for some time, I just need a sabbatical from carrying it. Ministers often will take sabbaticals from their ministries, needing to rest. Why not take one from the cross I carry? At least give me a setting on it to make it softer, easier to manage. But unlike our new mattress, the cross we are to carry daily has no “easy” setting. We can’t exchange it for a smaller one or take a break from carrying it. It is who we are, for we identify with the cross. Jesus says to us today “if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me”. Tonight as I lay my head on the pillow I think I might lower my sleep number setting, but tomorrow when I wake I will take up my cross with joy and follow him, knowing he will give me strength for the journey and power to carry my cross. Will you join me? Pastor Rick