Whom Must I Tell?

Daddy, Cheryl, and I missed our scheduled return flight home from D.C. one year. I don't know the proper name of the little transport vehicle that carried us from one terminal to the other, but I will never forget my experience on it. The car in which we were riding was full, so Cheryl and I had to stand along with a crowd of others. (Daddy was still trying to get past the metal detectors).

I should have gotten a clue to prepare myself when the automated voice warned that the car was about to be in motion. The first move of the car was a thrust. The second move was when I fell over my luggage and onto the floor. I got up, grabbed a rail, secured my luggage, and held on. That experience has taught me that when I even think things are going to be shakey, find something or someone to hold on to.

Have you ever had an abstract-shake knock you to the ground and leave you looking for a rail to grip or a shoulder to cry on? So many times like these, I have turned to others for words of comfort and for expressions that would lift my spirit out of the depths of depression. I have thought, if I tell Daddy, I'll feel better. If I tell Mama, Cheryl, Bruce, or...., I'll feel better. Although telling loved ones helps, telling no other person helps like telling Jesus. "Oh, what peace we often forfeit. Oh, what needless pains we bear. All because we do not carry, everything to God in prayer."

According to Matthew 14:12, after the execution of John the Baptist, his disciples buried his body, "and went and told Jesus." When life's challenges knock me to the floor, I roll onto my knees, and I go and tell Jesus. I may still tell my loved ones, but I always tell Jesus first. The more devastating the experience, the less loved ones can do about it no matter how much they may want to help me. If I want some help, I must tell Jesus. "Jesus can help me, Jesus alone." If I want to be comforted, whom must I tell? I must tell Jesus. I count it joy that when the world all around me feels like sinking sand, I can tell Jesus. Joy!