“But they did not receive Him…” Luke 9:53

Unwelcome

It was a cold winter’s night when I received a call from my friend, “Lynn”, who was a single mom. Her young son “Seth” had dropped a jar, shattered it, and gotten a piece of glass in his heel, and would I come over? She had tried to remove the glass, but Seth was freaking out so badly she couldn’t do it alone. I drove as fast as I dared on the icy streets.

We decided that she would hold Seth while I tried to get the glass out. It was a large chunk, and too slippery to get ahold of. Every time I tried with tweezers, he screamed bloody murder and kicked the daylights out of me. Isn’t it amazing how strong a freaked out child is? I don’t know how many times we repeated this scenario, but just as we were ready to give up, I grabbed his foot, pinned it under my arm, and squeezed his heel really hard. Just as his screams were at an all-time high, the glass came out! He continued to scream until I was able to make it known that the glass was no longer there. Lynn set him up with his foot in a pan of Epsom salts while I surveyed the carnage. There was still broken glass by the refrigerator. Seth wasn’t wearing any clothes. All three of us were covered in blood, and I was sore from being kicked. I have no idea how long this ordeal had lasted, but it felt like forever.

While Lynn expressed her gratitude to me, I took a seat near Seth, who looked at me and very calmly said, “I wish you had never come over.” That cracked me up, and I have to say, I couldn’t blame him! But from his perspective, I wasn’t the one who helped solve the problem; I’m the one who grabbed his foot repeatedly while he was pinned. I’m the one who caused him pain, though I tried so hard not to. The end result was good, but the process was traumatic for him.

Are you going through a process that makes you kick and scream? Is God unwelcome because you don’t like the method He’s using? My way or the highway, God! I, for one, can be guilty of this. The above Scripture is talking about how a Samaritan village rejected Jesus, because He was on His way to Jerusalem. Since He wasn’t doing things their way, He was unwelcome. I have to wonder if they ever realized what they missed out on because of that. 

“Lord, forgive me for the times that I push You away and make You unwelcome, all because You’re not doing things my way. Help me to submit to You. Your kingdom come, Your will be done. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”