It was a lazy Sunday afternoon with beautiful weather. On the drive home from our lunch in Paragould, Blake reminded me that I had promised to fly a kite with him. We stopped at Dollar General and bought a $3 kite.
The wind was very cooperative and launching the kite was so easy. We simply held it up, released it, and started giving it slack with the string. There was no need to run. We didn't even have to wait for a gust of wind.
The next hour was spent having some of the best fun a father and son can have. Blake immediately took over and before long was maneuvering the kite like a pro. Our fun came to an end when Blake noticed the dark gathering clouds of a thunderstorm. As he hurried to get the kite down Blake let me know that he had no desire to repeat Benjamin Franklin's experiment.
The storm blew through and our Sunday evening service started at 6 pm. From the first chorus we were met with an incredible move of God. Worship gushed from the hearts our people. It seemed that the wind of God swept into our building and caught the sails of our lives. Lifting and encouraging us to new heights, we were blown away by the presence our Lord. He was the wind beneath our wings.
Now let me be clear. It doesn't always happen like that here at New Life. It was as if we had lifted the kite and immediately felt the tug of the Spirit. Instantly caught by the wind our worship led us upward. Like John, who was caught up into higher levels of heavenly glory, we felt as if we were witnesses of something very special. Forty-five minutes later, after the service had turned to a powerful time of prayer, we went home. I simply dismissed our people telling them that we shouldn't do anything to diminish the memory of what we had been privileged to enjoy. It just didn't seem appropriate to do anything that might clutter the experience.
We spent a few minutes visiting with one another and walked toward the parking lot where another surprise awaited me. Blake had relaunched his kite and was sailing it over the church and all of our parked cars.
My thoughts once again turned to the kite. How did it achieve such balance and stability. It just had the feel. Perhaps the long tail had something to do with its success. The tail creates drag. It provides resistance. Without the tail a delta, triangle shaped, kite would sway and veer from side to side going into dives from which even the most skilled person could never recover. It needs the tug of the tail to right it when it gets locked into a dive.
Sometimes the things that seem to hold us back and create drag on our lives, are the very things that God has designed to keep us pointed in the right direction. When the kite starts to go into a dive, we realize that no amount of tension on the string can right the course. Everything within us screams, "PULL!" Yet it is beyond our ability to maintain the loft. That's when we loosen our grip just a little bit and allow some slack in the string so the wind can do its job. And the very thing that we thought was holding us back from climbing, that drag on our kite keeps our orientation upward.
I wonder if Paul's "thorn in the flesh" was not God's way of providing balance to that giant of a man. He was always "pressing toward the mark". The drag, that he wished to get relief from, kept him pointed in the right direction. When his flesh was weak, he found that letting go of what he could not do was like giving slack to the wind of the Spirit. Surrendering to the will of God, he soared higher than anyone could have dreamed.
Do the tension in life sometimes leave you feeling exhausted and weary? Aesop said, “If you keep a bow always bent, it will break eventually; but if you let it go slack, it will be more fit for use when you want it.” If you are frustrating yourself, never content with your performance, maybe you need to learn how to release and give God enough slack to right your attitude.
My soul, wait silently for God alone,
For my expectation is from Him.
- Psalm 62:5 NKJV
Sail on, my friends, sail on.
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