Feel the love!

I used to work for a theatre creating the sets for the productions.

Before one of the shows we had to move a piano. If you have ever moved a piano then you know that they are heavy. We were lucky because this piano was on wheels, but of course the piano never wheels exactly straight.

There were three of us and we had to squeeze the piano through a door that didn't leave any wiggle room. One of the movers pushed and I had to make a quick decision. Do I want my finger squished between the door and the piano, or do I move my hand quickly and let the piano smash against the door?

Logic to save my finger was of course the natural reaction. So, I quickly removed my finger from the danger and sure enough the piano hit the door frame.

Then unexpectedly my boss starts yelling at me.

"Why did you move your hand?"

"Because that would have hurt!" I responded.

"Does your hand heal?"

"Yes."

"Does the piano heal?"

"No."

"Then you should have left your finger there because now there is a permanent mark on the piano!"

I actually didn't have much of a response. I was more dumbfounded.

Was he saying that the piano is more important than my finger? That's insulting.

Or did he have a good point - a little pain and a bruise versus a lifetime dent.

I still don't know the right answer but I do know that it is ingrained in us to preserve ourselves. It is our natural reaction. My hand is more important than a piano.

In an extreme example, from the TV show "Seinfeld," George is in a burning building. He yells "fire" as he pushes a young child and an elderly person to the side to save himself.

We all have a little George in us.

In John 10 it says, "The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away and the wolf snatches them and scatters them."

Jesus then says, "I am the good shepherd! And I lay down my life for my sheep."

It doesn't matter how many times in life we run away from God, avoid God, don't believe in God, get mad at God, or praise God. God is always seeking us back into the fold and Christ has already laid down his life to show us the power of God over the grave. God never gives up on us.