Rubber Band Faith:

In response to the news that our flight to Cuba has been delayed for a few hours, Rachel's sister writes in an email to us, "Become a rubber band.  Adjust to change.  It will happen during this trip."  

Intuitively, we know that calling Cuban Travel Services to complain will get us absolutely nowhere.  However, if this were a domestic American airline, one of us would have called customer service line to ask for a refund or credit for a replacement flight.  If enough was on the line, we might even ask to speak to the manager.  

Why?  Because in America, we believe we're entitled.  It's our God-given right to have life go our way.  For the most part, living in the land of plenty, we're used to having life happen the way we want it to.   This is why, a wise older person explained, our generation is stuck in a regressive spiritual state, where we think Jesus is actually Santa Claus.

This truth hit home to me a bit more during a conversation I had with my dad a survivor of communism a few years back.  As part of the privileged class, my father's family lost everything when the communists took over China.  Accused of being an anti-communist, my dad lost his career as an engineer, was tortured by the Red Guards, went into hiding, and drank cabbage and water soup for months.  

As I listened to the story he was able to tell (some of the details are still too hard for him to share), I couldn't help but ask, "Didn't you get angry at God?"

First, he chuckled, as if my question was a bit outrageous.  

Then he said something along the lines of, "Why should I be angry at God?  What happened to me during those years wasn't God's fault... it's just life.  Life just happened that way..." 

Just the mere fact that I had to ask him about whether or not he got upset at God reflects how much I am shaped by the privileged often plastic world of America.  There are moments when I realize that I have come to believe aspects of the Jesus as Santa Claus gospel.  For, if God loves me and I try to be a nice person, I will never have to worry about my parents growing old or watch my best friend battle cancer, as she loses all her hair and wonders if she's still beautiful.  Those are the times when I want Jesus to be Santa Claus and fix the parts that aren't going as I want them go.

Dave Evans, a mentor from college, once asked me if I wanted to follow a Jesus who changed my reality OR penetrated my reality. As we embark for communist Cuba today, as rubber band Americans who practice going with the flow, I sense that we will quickly realize what the world has always known:  we are not in control of our lives, but God is - even and especially in the brokenness.

May I come to see that I serve a God who has the power to change reality, but who chooses instead to be fully present in the mess of this world.  I pray that while in Cuba, He chooses to use the moments when life doesn't go our way to perfect our faith: to help us see Him more clearly, trust Him more deeply and serve Him more truly with our lives...

-esther