The Way of Life

Beloved People of God,

Have you ever felt like the wheels of your life were coming off? A few years ago, Elise and I were hosting family in Dakar and took them to one of our favorite places: Lac Rose. It is a naturally pink lake surrounded by deep flowing sand dunes just off the Atlantic coast. The best way to enjoy it is to get out of the car and get on a four-wheeler. So, that’s just what we did. We arranged with a friend to borrow several four-wheelers to ride around the lake and breathe in the fresh sea breeze as we rolled up and down the dunes.

You probably know where this is going. Hardly out from our starting place, one of the wheels on Elise’s mother’s four-wheeler fell off! I mean the whole thing, axle and all. Thankfully she wasn’t hurt, but in that moment, it felt like a wheel gave out in my heart! Thankfully, our friend—I kid you not—took a shoelace (a shoelace!) and “fixed” it. If you’re skeptical, you’re not alone. So was Elise’s mom. But we had just enough faith to try again. Elise switched rides with her, and after a few minutes we were back in action. And, amazingly enough, that shoelace held all day!

Reading Psalm 16, I deeply feel David’s cry even more than our impromptu three-wheeler disaster: “Keep me safe, my God, for in you I take refuge,” (16.1). I can’t begin to count how many times that’s been my heart’s cry. In good times and sorrow, in happy days or desperate hours, I’ve prayed, “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing,” (16.2). David knew the ups and downs of life’s dunes. He knew what it felt like to be sucker punched. So did the disciples, whose heads where still spinning in the upper room from the cross and the tomb, let alone the marvel of resurrection! How often did they feel like they were holding on by a shoestring (Matthew 8.25; 2 Corinthians 1.8–10)!? Yet through it all, David and the disciples encouraged their hearts to sing, “I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With Him at my right hand, I will not be shaken” (16.8). Let’s keep singing with them.

For Christ the King, 

Brett