Jump Start # 3640

Psalms 118:24 “This is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

Is there such a thing as a normal day? I thought about that recently. One of our shepherds, who had just stepped down from serving a few months ago, passed away. It was a journey with cancer. This past year was hard on him. In and out of hospitals, treatments, shots, pills, scans and on top of that, he just didn’t feel well. “I want a normal day,” he’d say.

And, as I write these words, I am just hours away from preaching his funeral. And, the thought of a “normal day,” is something that I want to consider.

I think for my brother and friend, a normal day would be a day spent at home and a day in which he felt well. That didn’t happen much this past year for him. But many of us long for a normal day.

• The mom who is tired of picking up all the toys and separating fighting children, longs for just a normal day.
• The person at work longs for a day when everyone is getting along with each other and no one is complaining or competing against others.
• The elder in the church longs for a normal day in which there isn’t someone about to walk away from the Lord, or threatening to leave because they are unhappy.

Just give me a normal day!

I’ve had people ask, “What does a normal day look like for you?” Normal? Here it’s a Wednesday and I’m getting ready for a funeral. Normal? No. Have you ever seen on the evening news, a broadcast in which the anchors say, “There is nothing to report today. No news. It was a normal day.” Never. That never happens.

But what about Jesus? Did He ever have a normal day? There were storms on the seas, demons screaming at Him, sick to be healed, people needing His attention, and multitudes to teach. One never reads in the Gospels, “Nothing happened today. It was just a normal day.”

I concluded that the only places one finds normal is a setting on their dryer or a town in Illinois. Every day is fresh and new. Every day is sprinkled with blessings, adventures, challenges, choices and conflicts. There are moments of tears and moments of happiness. Every day is special. Every day is a gift of the Lord.

Our walk with the Lord can make these days and these choices easier for us. Our walk with the Lord helps us through the storms and trials of the day. We can walk in kindness or bitterness. We can walk in hope or in fear. We can walk with the Lord or away from the Lord. We can help others or we can ignore others.

I tend to think that nothing is normal here. It’s hard to find normal, when the world is broken by sin. It’s hard to find normal when people have closed their eyes to the Lord. It’s hard to find normal when Satan roams through the hearts of so many. Since Eden, has there ever been a normal day?

I think the only place we’ll find normal is when we are at home with God in Heaven. There, everything will be as it should be. There we will be where we belong. No more struggles. No more conflicts. Safe in the arms of Jesus.

The N.T. paints a picture of anticipation and excitement of being with the Lord. There was no dread or fear of death. In the Corinthian letter, Paul said, “…we prefer to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.” The Philippians were told, I have the “desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better.”

You want a normal day? Keep walking with Jesus. He’ll lead you home and that’s just the way things are supposed to be.

Roger