Don't let the unknown stop you

This past Saturday, my 5th and 6th Grade Sunday School class took an outing to the Oakland Ice Center to enjoy the sport of ice skating.  If I recall correctly, none of the kids had ever been ice skating before, so they  were a little anxious and nervous about this new experience.  Being on ice skates on the actual ice is a very uncomfortable experience because you have almost no control.  It reminds we of being an adolescent male when the body grows faster than the muscles can handle.  You fall for no reason and feel like the scarecrow on the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy takes him off his post.  I am not adept at ice skating, but I can skate without falling but a few times.  So it appeared I was the best skater in the group, which isn't a strong endorsement of our skills.  I was trying to help each of the kids feel more comfortable in skating so they could release themselves from hanging onto the boards and actually get out on the ice.

Enter the sister of one of my students, who is only in the first grade.  Mariana was scared at first and didn't want to go without her sister.  When I tried to help, she was receptive and seemed to catch on.  We skated for two hours and she stayed on the ice for almost the entire time.  About an hour into, I checked on all the kids to see how they were doing.  I was especially concerned with Mariana because she was the youngest and seemed very unsure at first.  I skated over to her and asked if I could help and she said, "No, I've got it".  Her head was down and she was skating with these small little strides.  But she kept skating.  She was motoring around the rink, even though she stayed close to the boards.  Anytime I volunteered to help, she said, "No, Ive got it".  She went from being afraid of the unknown to gaining more and more confidence in an uncomfortable situation.

I thought about how often I get sidetracked by circumstances in which the outcome or the situation is unknown.  I rarely ask for help and often give in to fear.  Rather than just getting on the ice and trusting God, I only look at what I can accomplish and get overwhelmed.  There's a lot to be said for "No, I've got it".  By that, I don't mean we should have no support or accountability because that isn't Biblical.  What I mean is that we should continue to push on, even when the situation is bigger than our resources.  We should not be intimidated by the situation or by the opposition because our God will see us through it.

Paul put it this way in Philippians 4:13, "Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it, but one thing I do:  Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on to win the goal for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."  Those are some solid words for us to live by.  We haven't arrived yet, but we aren't stopping on this journey.

Maybe you have faced some obstacles in your faith.  Maybe you are struggling with financial challenges.  Maybe you have a relationship in which you just want to give up and walk away.  Maybe you have a class that seems beyond your comprehension.  You know the situation you are facing.  Rather than let the unknown stop or overwhelm you, press on with God's grace and power.  It's amazing how far we can go in such a little time if we just keep moving forward.  "No thanks, I've got it"!