Crossing Grand Spiritual Station

Imagine you are a two-year-old with your hand held by your near-perfect parent. You are crossing with him in Grand Central Station at rush hour. As a two-year-old, what do you see? You see knees and thighs in a variety of covers and colors. Every now and then, you see a bench, a trash can, debris. Mostly it is all unknown and maybe scarey.

As you cross the station, you see a big wad of pink bubble gum stuck to the side of a bench. What is the impulse? Yes, you want the gum and you reach for it. This near-perfect parent gently pulls you in the direction he is going. You are safely away from whatever the gum may provide. A few steps farther and you see a penny on the floor. Yes, you reach for it and snag it. You move to test it with your mouth but your near-perfect parent says, "No. Put it in your pocket and it is yours." You put it in your pocket and quickly spy a girl on a bench with a bag of candy corn. You pull that direction. You cannot quite get there as your parent keeps on in the journey across the station. You are being the near-perfect two-year-old in a strange and dangerous place. You know how things taste and you test everything by mouth.

Your near-perfect parent knows where you are going and the reason you are going. What do you know? You want to taste everything. That is what two-year-olds do. You are not bad or inappropriate. You are two years old. Your job is to be two years old and keep your hand tight in his and walk with him. He is gentle in the hand and walks at a pace fast enough to stress you to grow. You trust him.

As you cross, you know from potty training that you need to make a stop but your familiar bathroom is not anywhere to be seen. You make a most urgent and demanding request and guess what. Your parent takes you to the edge of the station to a door that leads around a corner. You see lots of potty-stops! Your immediate need is now met. You clean your hands as you stand, on a wooden stool, just tall enough to get your hands wet. As you leave, you see a water fountain and he suggests a short sip. You get your face wet as he holds you up and the button down. Your thirst is satisfied for the moment.

To help you get an idea of what is occurring, your parent hoists you way up and puts you on his shoulders. Wow! Now you see heads, hats, shoulders, faces, colors, walls, ceiling, and the candy counter. What do you want? Candy! Your near-perfect parent keeps on heading in some direction you do not understand. You try to turn his head toward the candy counter as you protest his rejection. He has a purpose you do not, could not, understand and trusting him is your work.

Now imagine Jesus as a child. He came into the world through the door of Grand Spiritual Station as a tiny baby in a crib for cattle food. Mary and Joseph held his hand through danger and exile as Our Father sent angels and wise men to meet His needs. As He crosses Grand Spiritual Station, He grows and matures. He moves from the crib to being carried. He then goes to walking on His own at His parent’s side. Then one day, He stops in the temple to talk to others in Grand Spiritual Station and, to them, seems to know the way across, to their great surprise. They stay and He goes on. He has His hand in Our Father’s hand and at times walks hands-free beside Him. At thirty, He is walking side-by-side with Our Father across Grand Spiritual Station and He is with people to meet their needs and not His own. He is comfortable and comforting with His purpose and how to walk that out. Near thirty-three years old He meets with Our Father on top of the Mount of Transfiguration and sees the purpose and plan for the walk. They walk together to Jerusalem, The Garden, the trials, the beatings, spitting, cursing, and other cruelties of sin. At the Cross on the hill outside the city, Our Father stops. Jesus sees the door through which He will exit Grand Spiritual Station alone. He goes on. For the first time He is not in the walking-presence of His Father in Grand Spiritual Station. Great faith has grown in Him as He learned obedience while walking the walk across a place not His own.

So how are we to go? Walk with your hand trusting Our Father to meet every need. Realize that you are not mature enough to walk alone. We do not know the way across Grand Spiritual Station. We do not even know the reason we are there except that He brought us in to take us through to His purpose and by His power. When you stop for gum, or pennies, or candy corn, He knows your heart and that it is not focused on His purpose yet. Your heart cannot yet understand His purpose. He is not angry because He knows you. As you grow and walk with your hands free, you will have the training of The Father to keep you from grabbing what is not healthy or applying things to the wrong uses. His training will even hold you as you lust for what other people have and He does not want you to have. He knows the way and He knows the purpose of the walk. Trusting Him is your job. "For we walk by faith, not by sight." (2 Corinthians 5:7)

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