Unlearning the Need to Be in Control

Learning the Way of the Wind

The wonderful thing about life in Christ is that it’s more like driving a taxicab than working a mail route—you never know who you’ll meet or where you’ll go next.[i]

Disneyland is the self-proclaimed “happiest place on earth” but company lawyers do their best to make sure there are no “surprises” (i.e., lawsuits). Every ride should function as it was designed to; lines need to move at a scheduled time. Animals are fed on the clock. If you hop on the “it’s a small world” ride in 2023, it’ll be the same as it was in 1973 (and the song will be haunting you until 2053). You’ll know what’s around every curve, on every wall, and what you’ll be told as you exit the boat.

Jesus’s teachings, parables, and life paint a portrait that more closely resembles a jungle than a theme park, in that you never know what’s around the next bend or what’s going to happen next or who you’re going to meet next. You might have a soul that craves an occasional visit to Disneyland, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But you were designed to live in the jungle.  And it’s only in the jungle that abundant life can be found.