09/05/2007 - 09/05/2007

Back to Work - Sudoku

I discovered that I like Sudoku. Yes I'm talking about those number pages in the newspapers where you have to use the numbers 1-9 vertically, horizontally and in 9 separate boxes. I sat down to try one on the first day of my vacation and completely mucked it up, numbers all over, guessing, etc. The puzzle was a mess. But I like numbers and I said to my wife Brenda, "I can do this, I just need to develop a system." So that's what I did. The next day, I figured out the system and proceeded to complete my first sudoku. I have discovered that if I follow my system, I can get the puzzle.

But more than once I completed a puzzle only to discover errors when I reviewed it. Now I there are different approaches to deal with this. I could say, "Well, it didn't work out today, I hope I have better luck on tomorrow's puzzle." I could begin with the problem areas and work my way back, endlessly erasing one box only to create a problem with the next box. Or I could erase the whole thing and start over. I choose the last option. Usually if you have a problem, you're just as quick to turn back to the beginning. Or maybe my choice says something about my personality.

There are moments in my life as a Christian and as a pastor that I feel as though I'm doing a "life sudoku." The big difference is that the system is not always as clear. Part of the problem is that we all develop our own systems in order to tackle the puzzle. We become comfortable with our system and when things are wrong, we work double time to to rework everything within "our" system. But we forget that the battle between good and evil that wages on between God and the evil one works on no set system that we as humans can understand. Every church and person will come to snags in "their" system when trying to make sense of this battle.

Christianity is not about a system. It's not something that's just about making sense of all things. But it is about taking comfort in the grace of God who has the puzzle under control. We should take an active role in the puzzle, seeking to see it completed and whole, but we need not worry about developing "our" system on getting the job done. It's in God's hands.

I mean really, which one of us would choose a cross and death as a way of brining about true life. Doesn't sound like much of a system. But in Jesus Christ's victory, God creates the solution to the problem of sin that exists in the world and in us. The puzzle is not complete and often we find ourselves wondering which parts will go where, but the cross is the comfort and grace that we have to know that even when we're at work with God on the puzzle and we can't make sense of the next move, God can.

I breathe easier knowing that.