Far out, Man!

Okay, yes, I'm a terrible blogger. I can obviously go weeks (alright, months) without posting anything new, thus making this the most boring blog in the history of blogville or the blog universe or whatever it would be called. I have exactly the same problem with cleaning my house (no, I haven't cleaned my house since January), although for very different reasons. I just really don't like cleaning my house.

So I write today, partially because I got a smackdown at the office about my blog, but mostly because there's so much that's been floating around in my brain rcently during the MOJO series. I LOVE this series! I love that it's named after two big-time, children's Bible story guys, and that someone here on staff figured MOJO was the obvious way to go if you're going to talk about Moses and Joseph. Speaking as a child of the 60's and 70's, it's about time we had a series graphic that included a VW bus.

Poor Joseph. You gotta feel bad for the guy when you read through the list of crappy things that happened to him over, and over, and over. What I'm really finding is that I don't pity Joseph, I feel for Joseph. When I picture him in the bottom of a well, I feel the darkness, the loneliness, the hopelessness. When I picture him sold into slavery, I feel the pain of lost relationships, the sense of worthlessness. When I picture him accused and punished for a crime he did not commit, I feel the outrage over injustice, and the sense of abandonment by God.

But this week, the story took a turn and Joseph appears to finally come out on top. Scott said something that I loved this weekend. Is Joseph so ticked off at God that he'll be tempted to just walk away once we finds himself out of prison and in a position of power (after 13 years), or has Joseph forged such a deep relationship with God over the past 13 years that he simply can't do life apart from God? I love that, because I've realized that the moments of despair, loneliness, abandonment and injustice are the moments I really know who God is and what part He plays in my life. If Joseph went from being his father's favorite son, to the wealthiest, most powerful man in the world, with all of his relatives bowing before him (oops, spoiler alert), would he understand what it means for God to be with him, literally propping him up?

Do I really even have faith if everything goes my way and life is a joy ride? Don't I know and understand faith when me leaning into God and Him propping me up is all that's keeping me together? I love the idea of forging an unbreakable relationship with God during all the pain and anguish of situations that I can't understand or control.

Love this series! Now, let's put the Mo in MOJO.