A Bit of a Stretch

We used to have this squirrel that lived in the woods by us that would make these long falls onto our bird feeder.  The feeder is out in the open and has a squirrel baffle on it, but the squirrel would climb high into a tree with overhanging branches.  And Drop.  It would land on the feeder with a thunk and help itself to the harvest.  Sometimes we see the squirrels leaning out or going through all types of contortions to get the grain.  I guess that if you want it bad enough, it's worth a bit of a stretch.

Which reminds me of this old commercial for the telephone company (that's right, there was one telephone company).  It was centered on the jingle, "Reach Out and Touch Someone." It's hard to remember a time when people needed encouragement to use their phones.  But there it was, a commercial that brought our focus on to making connections through our phones.  Now the commercials are about how quickly or how cheaply we can make those connections.  But it's still all about reaching out and making those connections.  If you want it bad enough, it's worth reaching out.

So on the one hand we have telecommunications filling in for the actual contact that we may be missing.  But what is the opposite of this?  Would it be substituting brief moments of contact for an actual relationship.  If you follow a celebrity on twitter or instagram or facebook, you may feel like you are getting to know the celebrity, but you are still a long long way from an actual relationship.  Or at concerts, the fans line the stage reaching out for a hand slap or a chance touch.  That physical contact, as brief as it is, feels like a connection to the artist.  If you want it bad enough, you will reach for it.

So in the Bible there is this story of a woman who has had an infliction for 12 years.  She wants to be healed and she goes to Jesus.  She reaches believes that if she can just touch the hem of his robe, she will be healed.  And it works.  She makes the brief connection, but oh so much more,  Jesus speaks with her and commends her on her faith and says that it's her faith that has healed her.

Sometimes we are looking for that brief contact.  We have a crisis and we want to have God in the moment.  We want the Holy High Five and a cure to our problems.   But what is waiting for us is a relationship.  

Watch this video from Pastor Chris.

God wants a relationship with us.  It requires a little bit of faith and a stretch out of our comfort zone.  But it we want it bad enough, we will reach for it.