In the movie ‘Tombstone’, there is a scene near the end where Doc Holiday is on his death bed and Wyatt Earp has come to visit him. There is an exchange that goes something like this. Wyatt asks Holiday what he wants out of life. Holiday in return asks Wyatt the same. Wyatt’s answer was ‘to live a normal life’. I love Holiday’s response; “There is no normal life; there is just life.”
It is easy in life, to focus on what we think life ought to be like. By doing so, we can miss life. I have become convinced that at any time in our life, there is usually a mix of good and bad. We struggle over one thing while rejoicing over another. At best we can hope and pray that there is more of the latter than the former, but the bottom line is . . . it is all life.
I thought when I read this story in Acts 12 of how Peter was miraculously rescued from prison, how much that is our focus. That is what we have heard sermons on. I’ve never heard a sermon on what happened to James. James was put to death with a sword. Why did God rescue Peter but not James?
Does it help us to read of Peter and hope that God will rescue us? In the end, He either does or He doesn’t. Who in their right mind wouldn’t hope that He would, but if our ‘life’ is dependent on it, we are focusing on what we think life ought to be like – on what we think is normal. But . . . there is no normal; there is just life.
After Holiday told Wyatt ‘there is just life’, he added ‘so just get on with it’. We cannot predict. It does no good to speculate. We can just live. And we can be sure that if God lets us live, He will take care of us. Beyond that . . . ?
Hunger and Thirst 