Stretch

My Mom and I talk often of our respective growing-up years. I enjoy her tales of childhood during the "good old days" of the 40's & 50's (for a sample, see "Tunnel Vision" posted on March 28). This morning I was telling Mom about a lemonade stand the kids had set up in our yard a few days ago. We talked about how, these days, one cannot just let children operate such a stand unsupervised, not knowing exactly who such a business may attract. We reminisced about how much freedom we had as children -- running through the neighborhood with our friends and returning home only when hungry or out of daylight! I have vivid memories of riding my bike through the labyrinth of streets around our home with my friends, playing kick-the-can for hours, bouncing from one friend's house to another, all the while my Mom knowing basically where I was, but not worried that I would promptly return home when I heard my Dad whistle for dinner.

My Mother's childhood was similar, but decidedly more dangerous! While my brother and I enjoyed relative free reign when it came to the outdoors, my Mom and her siblings and playmates took it to a whole new level! Playing outside unsupervised was a given, but the games they played would make a modern Mommy quake with fear! Cowboys and Indians was played with real rope used to tie up your captives, who often remained in said condition for hours! Deep, treacherous ravines which I would forbid my children from approaching within 40 yards, were opportunities for my Mom and her friends to practice their log-crossing skills! Fire was a common plaything and they would dig large pits for roasting potatoes on a stick! My mother was so good at hide-and-seek that once she hid so well that her friends eventually gave up on her. She waited for several hours before leaving her winning hiding spot. . . a large water drain pipe which led underneath the nearby highway! "Everyone had BB guns, knives, and slingshots" my mother remarked! "It's truly a wonder that we did not seriously hurt or kill ourselves!"

One popular game my Mother played all the time was called Mumbly Peg (or "Stretch"). The object of the game is to get your opponent to stretch his/her legs to the point where they can no longer keep their balance. Sounds innocent enough, right? So, how do you play? Simple, really. Two players stand facing each other. One stands with his/her feet about shoulder length apart. The facing opponent then takes their trusty jack knife and throws it near his opponent's feet (which were typically bare)! Where ever the knife sticks into the ground, the other player must then stretch the nearest foot to that spot, trying to keep his balance. This is done over and over until the player loses his balance and falls over. Then players switch spots. Sort of like Twister ala Charles Manson! Ah, yes, the charm of the "good old days!"

I think sometimes Christians feel like we're playing a game of Mumbly Peg with God. He keeps throwing the knife and we must stretch to meet His target. We succeed with one throw, but always fear the next, anticipating either falling over, or worse, getting stuck with the knife. We often fear what God will have us "stretch" to do, so we play it safe, sitting on the side lines and watching others play, or we quit the game all together. But then I remember that the stretch goals God puts before us are not pointless exercises for spiritual playmates with serious thrill issues, nor are they the contrivance of a heavenly bully attempting to humiliate us! They are meant to sanctify us, glorify Him, and fit us for heaven. When we teeter or fall, we are reminded that we are unable in our own power to reach God's standard, but we stay in the game because we love Him and want to please Him, not because we are afraid of Him. We have the opportunity to, in faith, stretch beyond our human capabilities and experience God's hand in our lives as He time and again steps in and makes possible what is impossible for man! We say, "I can't stretch to that point, God!" And He says, "I know you can't! But I can!" And the big difference between God's plan to mold us into His Son's image, and a game of Mumbly Peg? The only one who gets pierced is Him.

Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air.

1 Corinthians 9:25-26

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. Hebrews 12:1-3