When You're Against the Wall, Will You Stick?

They say you can tell when spaghetti is ready to serve by one simple test. Boil the pasta noodles for maybe eight to twelve minutes. Test the spaghetti by throwing it against a wall. If it sticks, it’s ready.

So, my question for you is this: When you find yourself against the wall, do you stick?

All of us face adversity and trials in life – no matter who we are; rich or poor, dark or light, male or female, young or old, educated or illiterate, brainy or mentally challenged, strong or weak.

We all face challenges, difficulties and heartache. All of us have, or will at some point, find ourselves, like cooked spaghetti, with our backs against the wall.

There is a Mexican phrase which can be translated. “between the sword and the wall” or as they say, “Between the devil and the deep blue sea.” There are times in our lives when it doesn’t feel safe to move forward nor safe to retreat.

Christians especially should expect this. Jesus said; “in the world ye shall have tribulation.” (We’ll come back later for the rest of that bible verse.)

He also stated:

If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.[i]

Peter, the Apostle of Jesus, said:

Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:[ii]

The question is not “if” but “when” will I experience such trouble? At what point any of us may find our backs against the wall, we cannot say.

How will we respond when such hardship comes our way?

We can respond with panic, anger, hostility, or bitterness. We can be like a dog that has been cornered – not a pretty sight.

We can cow down and curl up into a fetal position – that is – just give up.

Or – we can respond in faith. The rest of the verse I started above reads:

These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.[iii]

This is the only way you will be able to “stick.” Many of us have seen those who started the race but never finished it.

We have seen soldiers of the faith who have gone AWOL whenever the battle ensued with great heat. Will we be a conqueror or a casualty when the going gets rough? Maybe you have lost some battles, but will you continue to fight the fight?

May we, like the Apostle Paul, be able to say in the end:

I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.[iv]

Trust in Jesus. Stay in his word. Be filled with God’s Spirit. Walk in truth. Walk in love. Be faithful. Be steadfast. Love God. Love one another. Exercise your faith. Pray daily.

By doing so, you will be one who sticks when you’re up against the wall.

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[i]   John 15.19.20

[ii]  1 Peter 4.12

[iii] John 16.33

[iv] 2 Timothy 4.7-8

Want to live in Outer Space?

How would you like to travel through space to live on another planet somewhere? We are told that Earth is “overpopulated and fragile,” and that human population should not remain confined to one single planet.

A planet was discovered several years ago in the constellation Libra called Gliese 581 C. It is considered by scientists to be “habitable”.

 They say the earth is about 8,000 miles in diameter pole to pole. This planet is about 12,000 miles across.

Our Sun is calculated to be approximately 93 million miles away. Gliese 581 C, they say, is only six million miles from the star it orbits. However that star is a “red dwarf,” which is much smaller and colder than the sun. Therefore we are told the temperatures there probably range from 32 to 104 degrees F. That sounds a lot like Texas to me!

It is thought this “super earth” is perhaps made mostly of rock, but may even be covered in water. Scientists say this would allow a climate where water would not be so cold that it freezes or so hot that it boils. Water there would be liquid, which is a necessity for life as we know it. Right now though, we don’t even know whether there is one drop of water there.

This is certainly the kind of stuff to cause a scientific mind go wild with imagination!

A radio beam was aimed at this planet in 2008 to send 501 text messages that were thought important to any being out there which might be able to receive the signal. That signal should arrive there in the year 2029.

But before you get ready to take the next flight to Gliese 581 C, consider some realities first.

Astrobiologists have calculated that the planet has about double Earth’s gravity. Any creatures living on this Utopia would therefore be twice as heavy as they would be on Earth. So much for that Weight Watcher’s plan you’ve been thinking about!

It has been said that the planet we are considering completes a full orbit in 13 days. The upside is that you will be receiving a birthday card from Grandma about every two weeks. The downer is that some of you reading this would already be over 1,000 years old!

We are told that “super-earth” is located only 20.5 light-years away. It sounds like a trip to the mall, but since light travels at 186,000 miles per second, that means the newly found planet is in fact 120,000,000,000 (120 trillion) miles from where you live. I bet you don’t even have that many miles on your old Chevrolet!

The fastest that man has ever travelled in space, I think, is 25,000 MPH. at that rate it would take about 547,945 years to reach our destination. That’s about 10 times the history of the human race. Keep in mind that this is one of the “closer” heavenly bodies outside our solar system. Let’s say a society wanted to try to reproduce itself on the way to this planet. It would take 14,000 generations to reach their new home. What if you arrived and found the place uninhabitable? What if you returned to earth and it was gone? What if you got back and someone by then had learned to travel at the speed of light?

But wait? There is a better plan! Jesus said,

"Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know."

Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going, and how can we know the way?"

Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.[i]

Wow! Talk about space travel! We are told in the bible that believers in Jesus Christ will be “caught up, to meet the Lord in the air.”[ii] It also says it will happen “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.”[iii]

How about this scripture?

Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away."

Then He who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." And He said to me, "Write, for these words are true and faithful."

And He said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.

I’m planning on travelling through space to a habitable place, to be suddenly in the presence of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ to dwell in a place he has prepared for me. How about you?

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[i]  John 14.1-6

[ii] 1 Thessalonians 4.17

[iii] 1 Corinthians 15.52