Jello-Mold Jesus


Today I am prompted to talk about Jello-mold Jesus.  Do you know Him?  He's the one we want to fit into the mold we've created for Him. The one WE think means that He loves and cares about us, and has our best interests in mind.

Jello-mold Jesus is the loving Jesus we've fashioned in our mind as our ideal Jesus, and when He doesn't fit our mold, or do the things we want Him to do - we get upset.  We wonder "How could a loving God allow X?, How can I be expected to TRUST a God who has disappointed me so?"

But that's when we must have BIG FAITH.  You see, God didn't promise that when we walked with Him our lives would always be easy, or that we'd get everything we wanted becauses we were Christ-followers. 

Sometimes, the jello we've poured into our mold doesn't set the way we think it should.

Isaiah 43:2 is one of my favorite verses to turn to when things aren't going as I planned.  It says, "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and thorugh the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through the fire you shall not be burned, and the flame will not consume you."  To me, that says even though there will be difficult times, God will be with us when we're going through them.

Yesterday, the blog post was about the farm, and I said Jim had been there all weekend tending to the grapes.

But it wasn't just Jim, it was his 80+ year old dad, his Uncle Jerry, his cousin Jake, his brother Matt, his brother Dave, and Dave's sons.  They spent all weekend working in cold, wet, weather - trimming vines, stringing wires and straightening posts so that this year there would be a bountiful harvest.

But last night - there was a freeze warning and when I woke up, a not-so-thin layer of frost covered the grass here in Northville.  I checked the temperature in Paw Paw (where the farm is) and even now it is 29 degrees.  Since tthe unseasonably warm weather of the past few weeks meant that all of the apple trees and grape vines at the farm had already budded, this frost means the crop of grapes and apples is most likely ruined.  

The jello didn't set!

And while it is tempting to lament, and be mad - to wonder WHY God would allow it...it is better for my heart, mind and soul to trust.

"He is not afraid of bad news; his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord!" - Psalm 112:7

Regardless of whether the grapes and apples froze or not, God is near.  He is good and He loves us.  His actions may not be the ones we wanted or expected, but they are HIS actions and we must love Him enough to say, "I trust You, even when I don't understand"

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