A few years ago NASA developed a special gun for launching dead chickens at the windshields of military jets in order to test the design and strength of the glass against collisions with airborne fowl.
French engineers were eager to test this gun on their new high speed trains. But when they launched their chickens, they found that their shatterproof windshields were no match for the dead birds. The French engineers sent their specs back to the US for analysis. NASA's response: "Thaw your chickens."
We laugh, but life can serve up some major fast balls. Although we'd like to believe that our personal, family and business lives are shatterproof, we know better. It only takes one hard shot - a death, illness, divorce, or job loss, just to name a few - and we're in a tail spin.
God can rescue us, though. He desires to salvage our broken lives and fortify our "inner man," the secret place in a person's heart that aches and sputters even as we try to maintain a tough and confident exterior.
And, although we like to imagine ourselves as self-sufficient, we know that we need rescuing. The scuds that life launches at us have done some damage. In response to the daily pressures of home and work, our hearts have grown cold and callused. Our inner man has grown faint. We need God to re-engineer our lives in order to withstand the "frozen chickens" that assault our souls.
This is, in fact, God's specialty. God desires, and is able, to re-ignite the fire that once burned in your belly. Or ignite it for the first time if you've never had a fever for life. Maybe you're living life by default. Yet you suspect there's a better existence out there, if only you could discover it.
I'm convinced God has the answer. He is the answer. He says, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh." (This quote from the bible is Ezekiel 36:26.)
Through the person of Jesus Christ, God offers a pulsing, vital heart that is able to weather everything life unleashes. Don't worry, God isn't some divine Dr. Frankenstein bent on controlling his creation. He wants the best for us. And he makes it possible for us not only to survive our home or work environment, but to thrive as well.
How does it all begin? By receiving a new heart. Are you ready for a transplant? Then move a step closer to Jesus Christ. His heart is beating toward you; your strength is in his strength. He can jump-start your soul, pull you out of your nose-dive and set you back on course. Accept God's heartfelt gift today.
© 2005 Lyndon Perry
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