Stuck in a Moment

Houston, Texas 1983. I was sitting in the waiting room at South East Memorial Hospital. The doors to the authorized personnel area opened and in walked the doctor. I stood to my feet and walked over to her. When we met, she said to me; "Mr. Toops, you are the father of a healthy baby boy." My whole life changed in just a moment.

A moment is a point in time where my past meets my future. A point where I can see all of the failures, pain and mistakes of yesterday and where I can see if I do not make alteration in my life, I will repeat them again in my future. We all have experienced moments. Moments that define who we are. Moments that have set the course of our lives. Some have been great moments. While some moments we have regrettably had to live with.



Moments can be by our own making–choices we have made. Some moments are the results of decisions others close to us made. But they are all just that moments. Moments come and moments go. They can be easily ignored or they can be an epiphany.



In Gospel of Luke, chapter fifteen, Jesus gave a parable. A parable is a simple story used to convey a deeper truth. The majority of Jesus' teaching was done in parabolic form. In Luke 15, Jesus used three parables: The parable of the Lost Coin; the parable of the lost sheep; and the parable of the prodigal son (our lost son).



In The parable of the prodigal son, Jesus told the story of a young man who was discontented with the life that his family had provided him. This son was born obviously into a family of means and had everything he wanted or needed. However, he was wanting to break free form home and do his own thing. Jesus painted a vivid picture of the disrespect and rebellion of this son. The social and religious implications of the son's statements and actions were appalling. Jesus had succeeded in portraying the son as a spoiled rich brat! The young man was given his share of the father's wealth and split for places far far away.



Once the prodigal arrived at his destination, he "wasted" his money in prodigal living ( wasteful living) .He spent everything and became destitute. The fun dried up and the friends left him. To make matters worse, a famine came to far far away. And, the prodigal found himself in NEED! He was in a far away country with no financial means and without a support network. he was flat broke and on his own. The arrogant rich brat who had it all was no reduced to a vagrant who slopped hogs to pay his bills. To refer to a song by U2 , he was stuck in a moment and he couldn't get out of it!



Then something happened. Just like the brainstorm came to him to leave home and live the Vida loca, he had another moment. But, this time it was a moment of self realization. Luke's gospel says it this way: "but when he came to himself". The choices of the past collided with his future. He realized that if he stayed where he was he would die. He had to get out of this. He made a decision to go home, apologize to his father and take full responsibility for his actions. He hoped that things would work. And, according to the parable, they did. And, things worked out better than he had hoped. A moment had nearly ruined his life. And a moment changed his life!



Do you find yourself alienated from a life you use to know? Do you find your self separated from family or friends? Have your choices caused you to ruin relationships–finances–health–others? Do you find your self alone and in a pig pen? Are you hungry for a better life? Have you come face to face with the realization that if something does not change your life is doomed to repeat itself? If you have come to realize you must change you're on the right track. Now you must act on it. You must put your desire to change to work for you. You must have a defining moment that will impact the rest of your life. A moment for your good not your bad. A moment that may be painful to for you. But a moment that will change you forever. YOU MUST COME TO YOURSELF! You must awaken that person God created you to be. That persons you have always wanted to be. That successful person who is working to fulfill their purpose on this earth. It must start somewhere. It might as well be right here, right now. But it is a choice that only YOU can make.



This is your moment. Do not let fear paralyze you. Do not let uncertainty dominate your mind. There are two dimensions of faith. The first dimension is faith to trust God. That is simply trusting God to do what he has said to do. Things that he has done for others, except you have never experienced them. Trusting God for salvation–relationships–finances–health. These are areas of first dimension faith. Second dimension faith is simply stepping out not having a clue because God has not really said what He would do. The prodigal son had no guarantee that his father would even speak to him let alone allow him to be a hired servant. But his stepping out into that area of unknown–knowing it was the right thing to do, with no guarantee that it would go the way he wanted it to go, resulted in an ending –(or new beginning?) to his story. What is your defining moment challenging you to do?



What areas of the unknown are you feeling compelled to step out into? Don’t wait for some sign to appear before you act. Don’t wait till everything comes together before you step out. Don’t wait till it all comes to you .Do something you have never done before. It may require swallowing your pride or eating some proverbial dirt. You can’t expect anything to change if you stay where you are. Come to yourself and get out of the mess you find yourself in. It is not too late. Now is your defining moment.