One More Move

Life has a way of ganging up on us every now and then, and I’m no exception to the rule. The past few weeks I’ve sort of felt like Charlie Brown, trying to get my kite to fly. The avalanche of circumstance started with a little personal battle dealing with others, which can make a person think and say things not supported by their faith. Then a friend passed from this life, very unexpectedly, reinforcing the premise that the future is open to the will of God and we have no control over it. The morning following his funeral a man runs a red light, crashing into my wife, destroying her car. Luckily, his inattentive brain sensed the danger and he turned trying to avoid the inevitable, keeping his home-made Titanic front bumper from hitting the drivers door, which probably would have ended her life. Thank God all that got hurt was the car. Then during my once every six months routine of having my vocal cords looked at, my ENT informs me we need to go back to surgery as the left cord has new growths on it. No, no, no! Not Now! Well, there’s never a convenient time for personal trial, and life holds no promises, except one.
A young boy was waiting after worship for his family. The minister saw the boy standing there and thought he would strike up a conversation. He asked the little boy, “Young man, if you can tell me something that God can do, I’ll give you a big shiny apple.” The little boy thought a moment, then replied, “Mister, if you can think of something that God can’t do, I’ll give you a whole box of apples.”
There is a painting that shows the devil at a chess board with a young man. The devil has just made his move, and the young man’s queen is apparently in checkmate. On his face is written defeat and despair. One day the great chess genius, Paul Morphy, stood looking at that painting. He studied carefully the positions of the pieces remaining on the board. Suddenly his face lit up and he shouted to the young man in the painting, “Don’t give up! You still have a move! ...you still have a move!!”
[James 1: 12] What are some of the phrases we never want to hear? “It’s cancer”; “There’s nothing we can do”; “He didn’t make it”; “There’s been an accident at work”; “You’re fired!”; “We’re downsizing”; “We’ve decided to make a change”; “I’m leaving!”; “I don’t love you anymore”; I have found somebody else”; “You are under arrest.” Each of these phrases can bring chills, tears and despair. Once you have heard one of these, there will be changes taking place. These phrases tell of death, divorce, loss of job, loss of reputation and loss of love. They will become benchmarks of change in someone’s life, be it for good or bad. We see that some, when these situations happen, turn away from God and some turn to God ...the same situation, but with totally different outcomes. We come to those moments when it seems we are checkmated. We see no winning move to make. Some try to blame God for their troubles. Some say God doesn’t care. Others think God has no idea how they feel and what they are going through. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Jesus, the Son of God, the living Word of God, knows all about pain and sickness. Jesus knows about temptation. He knows all about unfair death; he experienced it. “...let this cup pass from me”, he pleaded. But Jesus accepted the will of His Father. Jesus had one more move. An empty grave proves He didn’t give up. With prayer and faith in Jesus my Savior I’ll always have one more move