understanding

There's a man trying to cross the street. As he steps off the curb, a car comes screaming around the corner and heads straight for him. The man walks faster, trying to hurry across the street, but the car changes lanes and is still coming at him.

So the guy turns around to go back, but the car changes lanes again and is still coming at him.

By now, the car is so close and the man so scared that he just freezes and stops in the middle of the road.

The car gets real close, then swerves at the last possible moment and screeches to a halt right next him.

The driver rolls down the window. The driver is a squirrel. The squirrel says to the man says, "See, it's not as easy as it looks, is it?"

There have been times when I've discovered that experiencing something is more difficult than it looks. For example, when I was younger, I was full of ideas on how parents ought to be raising their children. However, after having three of my own, I've discovered that "it's not as easy as it looks."

Maybe there was a time when you thought someone ought to be handling a divorce or a death in the family better than they do. But after experiencing it for yourself, you found out that "it's not as easy as it looks."

Sometimes there's no way to know what it feels like to go through something without actually experiencing it yourself. That's why the incarnation is so important. There's no way we can say to God, "Living here on this earth -- it's not as easy as it looks!" God knows. He's taken on flesh and blood and walked this earth. He's experienced temptation, frustration, persecution, disappointment and a host of human emotions. He knows how tough it is. He understands. And that's why He is in a position to be of help to us.

"For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." (Heb. 4:15-16)

It's true. Living life on this earth is "not as easy as it looks." But may you find comfort today in knowing that God understands that more that you can begin to imagine.