Thursday, August 12, 2010

Red Rover

Red Rover, Red Rover, send (your name) right over! You run with all your might. Your thoughts are racing. What will happen when I get there? Will I break through the tight grip or will they trap me and keep me on their team?

I was never, and I emphasize the word never, an athlete. I was that student that made the P.E. teacher sigh as our class filed in for P.E. each week. (That’s ok, she made me sigh too!) I really did try though, it just wasn’t in me. My lack of coordination mixed with my long scrawny legs, my navy blue kangaroos, and my long frizzy head of hair just didn’t measure up to the image of the perfect P.E. student I’m sure she was picturing in her mind. Needless to say, I looked forward to the days when our P.E. activities were not quite so “P.E.ish”. When the stars would line up just right and the P.E. teacher was miraculously in a rare good mood, she would let us play red rover out in the field behind the school. Those were my kind of P.E. days. I could do red rover. It never felt like one of those games where you were the “last one picked” to be on a team. You knew that sooner or later you would get your name called to try to break through the bond made on the other side. I would smile inside at hearing these precious words:

“Red rover, red rover, send Amy right over!”

As soon as I heard it my heart would pound, because with each turn that had been taken, I would calculate in my mind what I would do if I was called next, after all the game required great skill. I would strategically weigh my options. If several of my friends were on that other side, it greatly affected my well thought out plan. In the event that a number of of my friends were on the other team, any skilled red rover player knows that you pretend you aren’t strong enough to break through and you “have” stay on that side if they capture you. Then there was the issue of a lone ranger friend on the opposing team. Well, it was imperative that she be rescued, so if your name was called, you darted forcefully across the playing field, charging full speed ahead, breaking the chain of arms so that you could rescue your friend bringing her to the other side. Told you it took a lot of skill – it takes natural talent to be good at this game!

Let’s compare our life to a game of red rover for a minute. God’s on one side and you’re on the other. He looks across that field and spots you – He wants you on His team, arm in arm with Him. He takes a deep breath –

“Red rover, red rover, send _________________right over!”

You’ve weighed your options, calculated your risks, tallied the friends one each side. Do you run purposefully toward Him, knowing He’s so strong that there’s no way you’ll break through and willingly let Him keep you there with Him? - OR - Do you run as hard as you can, searching for what you think is the weakest link so that you can chose someone to take back to the other side with you?

I hope your choice was the first one, I hope you want to be captured in His love.

Now, let’s look at it from the other side. It’s your turn to call a name. You can choose any name, the hands that are holding you are gripping so tightly you think you will never be out of their grasp and you desperately want off of this team. What name do you call?

“Red rover, red rover, send my Savior right over!”

His heart pounds with joy, but He doesn’t have to weigh His options. He knows that He will run full force and that He has the strength to break through any grip that is holding you. Isaiah 65:24 “..before they call, I will answer, and while they are still speaking, I will hear”. He will, with pleasure, rescue and take you back to the other side.

“They will call on My name, and I will answer them;
I will say, ‘They are my people.’
And they will say, ‘the Lord is my God.’ ”
Zechariah 13:9

Red Rover, Red Rover, send Jesus right over.




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