Juneteenth

It is a strange thing to be in two places at once. To be sitting on a beach on a bright morning basking in the presence of God. While at the same time to be buried in a pit of circumstances that appear hopelessly insurmountable. The challenge is to determine which one is the truth and which is the illusion. 

Do I only imagine that the sea is singing to me? That my prayers are being gathered up one by one like scattered diamonds and their answers are sailing down on sunbeams? Is the truth really that God is indifferent to me? Am I too great a sinner? Am I an even greater fool?

Or is it perhaps my circumstances that are the lie? The bills that are mounting, the savings that is evaporating, the time that is as insufficient as money? Are they all merely distractions from a greater more profound truth? Is this tangible lack that envelopes me just a lie?

Today is Juneteenth. It is an unofficial holiday. Near the end of the Civil War Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation declaring an end to slavery effective January 1, 1863. But for some freedom was a long time coming. Texas was the last state to comply. On June 19th, 1865 - a full two and half years later - Union troops took possession of Galveston, Texas and read the Emancipation Proclamation to the now former slaves. The free men and women danced in the streets. 

But for those 30 months between the enactment of emancipation and Juneteenth as it's now called, those slaves were free. They just didn't know it, or perhaps were powerless to do anything until the Union Army arrived, or maybe worse, they did not believe it was true. Were their shackles an illusion? No. But they were, in a sense, a lie. Chains said to them, "you are property." But they were not. Burdens said to them, "you will die a slave." But it was not so. Until June 19th they were also in two places at once. 

My fears tell me I am a slave to debt. That my net worth is "negative a whole lot". My circumstances tell me I'm behind at work and there are not enough hours in the day. Time is slipping away. My own mind tells me, "I got nothin'. I'm out of ideas!"  But here in this place, God says He will supply all my needs according to his riches  in glory. He says I am valuable, valuable enough to die for. He says he has a good plan for me. He says He will renew my mind and fill me with good ideas. And He will give me the ability to get wealth. God says my times are in His hands and he will redeem my lost hours. 

My Juneteenth is coming, indeed, it is already here. The day when I will cast aside these burdens and dance in the streets. Until that day I must make a continual choice. I must choose which reality to believe. The tangible reality that shakes my heart like a rag doll and overwhelms all hope. Or the reality of faith that declares all things are possible through Christ who strengthens me. 

To which cry do I harken; which one do I trust? The answer comes as sure as the waves that rush upon the sands..."Place all your hope and trust, my child, on the one that declares you Free."

John 8:31-32
 “If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”