Epic Fail

The other night was Back To School Night for my youngest daughter.
I did the calculations: five children, twelve years of school before graduation.
I have gone to sixty Back To School Nights over the years!
You would think I would be an expert by now.
You would think!

I got there a few aggravating minutes late.
There was no parking to be found.
I walked in the building, my schedule in hand; the one my daughter wrote for me.
I went to her first class, or so I thought.

I should know the building by now, but it is still very confusing to me.
Signs are everywhere with arrows and numbers.
Which hallway is best? What is the quickest route?

She told me to take a certain ramp; her Physics class would be the first door on the right.
I took the ramp and thought I was just fine, though about five minutes late.
There were people standing outside the classroom, so I walked in the first door I saw.
The teacher was not one that my other children had, so I didn’t know what he looked like.

I saw a parent I knew in one of the desks.
I wonder why she never mentioned that person was in her class?
I was handed the syllabus, which had two names on the top; one being her teacher.
I listened to all they were going to cover, and what they had already done.
It didn’t sound familiar.
I discovered later that night, I was in the wrong class; that was not her teacher.

In the middle of her day, my daughter has chorus.
The chorus teacher is wonderful and has taught most of my children.
I walked into a room with no parents, just the teacher.

Sorry, I’m so early…
No, actually, you’re late; he said with a twinkle in his eye, this is 6th period.

How did I get behind one whole class period?
The ramps and the Square must have done it.
The Square is also referred to as the black hole.
You walk around, thinking you are getting somewhere, but you end up where you started!

I either wanted to start over, or go home!

This was my last Back To School Night since my daughter is a senior this year.
I came home and explained my Murphy’s Law kind of evening.
Epic fail Mom, one of my older daughters said lovingly, when I told her the story.
Just think, you have no way to redeem yourself! She said with a twinkle in her eye.

Wistfulness set in.
Sixty Back To School Nights, and the last one an “epic fail.”

I am so glad that the way to heaven is not around the Square, or up the ramps.
I am so glad I do not have to rely on myself to get there.
Epic Fail would be the result.

It is said that men do not stop to ask for directions.
When it comes to going to heaven, women are just as guilty.

I can do this myself, we say with our clipboard ready.
The clipboard keeps a record of all the good things we do.
At the end of our life we hope that the good will somehow outweigh the bad.
If the scale tips in our favor, we’re in!

It’s just that the scale will never tip in our favor because it is NOT our scale.
It is God’s scale, and He has a totally different way of measuring.
God doesn’t have a clipboard.

God has His own standard of measurement.
God measures us against His holiness.

We can never measure up!
If left to our standards, our goodness, and ourselves we would be walking in the Square.
The black whole of self-righteousness.
The “no way out” of our own striving.

Going to church; I’ll take that ramp. Dead end.
Giving to the poor; that’s the ramp for me. I’m back where I started.
Doing good deeds for others. Black hole.

Will I ever get there?
Is heaven beyond my grasp?
Will I always be behind, late, unable to reach my goal?

Using our own navigation system, we will walk in circles.
We will end up where we started…IN OUR SIN!
We will be in the wrong class for all eternity.
Epic Fail.

I cannot redeem myself.
I do not get another Back To School Night.

I have a Redeemer, the Lord Jesus.
He is the Way, the ONLY way to heaven.
It’s as if God gave us a Back To The Father event.
No Square. No Ramps. No Black Hole. No being left behind.

The WAY is a Person and that Person is Jesus.
Glorious destination reached by the One who went through the black hole for me.
The One who died on the cross, rose again, and ascended to heaven.
The One who went back to His rightful place in heaven and is at the right hand of God.

Satan thought that the cross was an Epic Fail.
Satan thought that he had won.
Satan was wrong!

The Savior redeems those who trust in Him alone for their salvation.
We cannot trust in our clipboard, good deeds, giving, or church attendance.
In Christ, the ramps, the black hole, the lost-ness is gone forever.
Jesus is the WAY.

I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end He will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see Him with my own eyes; I and not another. How my heart yearns within me. (Job 19:25-27)

 

 

2 responses to “Epic Fail”

1. Love this Gina. So true. So understandable. So glad to know I’m not the only one who messes up stuff like that : )

   Reply

   • Marcie,
     You’re in good company, friend!
     God can redeem anything!
     Gina

     Reply