Somewhere I read this one-liner: “I thought I had a handle on life, but then the handle fell off!”  Have you ever had the handle fall off? 

Some adversity comes into almost every life. It may be physical or economic or some form of loss or brokenness. It could be a combination of those things. It may be aging parents who need daily care. It might be children who seem not to care at all. The Staples office store has an ad about the “easy button” for getting supplies. The tag line on the ad is, “Wouldn’t it be nice if there was an easy button for life?” The reality is, there is no easy button for life. 

Adversity is far more common than we would like. Someone once said, “Life is like a chicken trying to lay an egg on an escalator. As soon as you settle in, the bottom moves out from under you.” Or it’s like an ad in a London newspaper that read, “Found: kitten with white paws and bib. Very affectionate. Answers to the name, ‘Go away.’” Some things (like adversity) simply will not go away. 

Some adversity is imagined. It could be fear of the future, or fear of terrorists. I love the way the weather forecasts are done these days. It’s not from the weather center or the weather news; it’s from the “severe weather center” or the “storm center.” Most of the time a storm is not actually present, but it is feared. 

Someone wrote recently, “It is no accident that ‘Providence’ is the name of more than one American city. [There is also a Providence College, a Providence Health System, a Providence Hospital and a Providence Seminary. There’s a town of New Providence in New Jersey.] Providence tries to tame fate and bend it toward hope.”

Adversity comes to almost everyone. Sometimes it comes in multiple doses. I read somewhere about some clues that you might be headed for a bad day of adversity. Listen to these. You might be headed for adversity if

1)      you see a 60 Minutes news team waiting in your office

2)      you call suicide prevention and they put you on hold

3)      your birthday cake collapses from the weight of your candles

4)      you turn on the morning news and they’re showing emergency routes out of the city

5)      your twin sister forgets your birthday

6)      your car horn goes off accidentally and remains stuck as you follow a group of Hell’s Angels on the freeway

7)      you check your voice mail and it tells you “it’s none of your business” 

Most healthy persons can handle some adversity. I am told, however, that two or three issues at one time are probably our limit. If you get to that third or fourth issue it may push you over the edge. 

How does a believer handle adversity? Whatever the secret of Christian survival may be, it is certainly not the absence of trouble. Do we have any clues on how to handle adversity? Let me share a few. 

STAY IN TOUCH WITH GOD 

One way is to get in touch and to stay in touch with God. In my covenant group we have as the number 1 item in our covenant something like this: I will try to stay in touch with God throughout each day as often as possible. I will especially try to do so at the beginning and the ending of every day. 

One of the rediscovered treasures I am reading right now is John Baillie’s book A Diary of Private Prayer. It has a prayer for the beginning and ending of every day. It’s written in Old English style; however I have reactivated a great respect for this man. He is obviously a person who was very much in touch with God. He reminds me on a daily basis to connect and to re-connect. 

Keep in touch with God. Connecting gives me some reserves to draw on.  

For a very short time I owned a 1959 Volkswagen Beetle. I think I bought it for $250. After I bought it I learned that it had over 90,000 miles on it. I also learned that when it rained, water leaked up through the floorboard. However, this 1959 VW had a very interesting feature. It had no gas gauge. You had to remember how many miles you had driven since the last time you filled up with gas.  

There was, however, a small safety feature. On the floorboard near the accelerator was a small lever. If you started to run out of gas, you would reach down and trip that lever 90 degrees and it would allow an extra gallon of gas (held in reserve) to flow into the gas tank. Then you had enough fuel to get to the next gas station. 

Upon hearing that story, a friend of mine wrote this:

When we encounter a tragedy or loss that overwhelms, and we’ve given all we have, and we do not have the strength to go on, remember the little lever that puts you in touch with that extra gallon. We all have it. In good times it goes unnoticed, but when we are at the end of our rope and we cannot go on, there it is.[i] 

The Quaker writer Elton Trueblood once wrote of writing in his cabin in the mountains. He looked out the window and saw trees growing out of rocky soil. They were actually growing out of piles of rock. Trueblood wrote this:

Trees can only do this because the roots go deep, fighting through the crevices and cracks in the rock, penetrating deeply.[ii] 

Strength in adversity will only be found by people of faith when the roots go deep, and when we penetrate the crevices and cracks in the rocky soil of life. 

This is more than simply a cheerful disposition. This is more than a positive outlook or an upbeat spirit. Someone once said that “Optimism is a cheerful frame of mind that enables a teakettle to sing although in hot water up to its nose.” I speak here of more than optimism. This is deeper and richer. This is the soul that works at being in touch with God. This is the soul that tries to connect. It’s an integral part of the living of our daily lives. 

We may not need it all the time. We may not even need it for a long time. But when you do, that reserve kicks in, and the resources of faith flow. 

REMEMBER THE PROMISES 

Second, we need to remember the promises of God. Focus yourself on the great promises of God. There are four that are very special to me—one from Moses, one from Joshua, one from Jesus, and one from Paul. Here they are. 

Moses: “It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not fail or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”  (Deuteronomy 31:8) 

Joshua: “I hereby command you; be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9) 

Jesus: “I am with you always to the close of the age.”  (see Matthew 28) 

Paul: “Nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (see Romans 8) 

As a person of faith, I need to remember one or all four of these. When God is present with humanity, it takes away fear. It removes the fear of any present reality, any enemy, or any future. 

A family was watching a movie on the life of Jesus on television. The 6-year-old daughter was deeply moved by the suffering and death of Jesus. The movie was made very realistically. Tears ran down her face as they took Jesus down from the cross and laid his body gently in the tomb. She watched as the guards were placed outside the tomb. Suddenly a big smile came across her face. She bounced up on the arm of the chair and she exclaimed, “Now comes the good part!” 

The Bible has many stories of suffering and struggle, including those of Jesus himself. But the good part is in the promises of God. Remember these promises. Memorize them. Hold them close. 

PART OF THE COMMUNITY OF BELIEVERS 

Thirdly, we strike a blow against adversity when we become an active part of a community of believers. I realize that I may be preaching to the choir here, but it still needs to be said. Ties with other believers are a vital part of dealing with adversity. 

Those of you who come from the Roman Catholic tradition remember that there is a rule in the Catholic church that you must be in mass every week. You neglect to do so at the peril of your soul. At a deeper level, the church is saying stay in touch with the resources. Stay in touch with the liturgy, the sacrament, and the Scripture. 

The United Methodist church does not make weekly worship a requirement for salvation. But I believe it is essential to effective and courageous living. The words of the hymns or the anthems, the prayers, the greeting, the benediction, the reading of Scripture texts, the message—each of these things gives strength and encouragement for the journey of life. Reminders of who you are and whose you are. 

Plus, ties with the church give you a supportive community upon which to call. I cannot begin to count the number of people who have said to me over the years, “I never could have made it through this without the church.” There’s an old saying that “Our duty is not to see through one another, but to see one another through.” I like that.  

One pastor told a story of coming to his new appointment for the first Sunday. The church held a reception for him. Everyone greeted him except one man. This man stood nearby and in the background while everybody else came by to greet the preacher. Then he came forward and simply stood there. The preacher said, “What do you do here?” The man responded, “I look for the preacher’s weaknesses. And I’m good at it. But when I find them, that’s where I get beneath him and lift him up.” 

I have been a part of a church community somewhere all of my life. I know enough about what this means and never want to be without it. In good times, you are the people with whom I want to celebrate. In adversity, you are the people upon whom I am privileged to lean. 

Some people think the Christian life is being delivered from all adversity. It is not so. Rather it means being delivered in adversity. People of faith help you know that reality. They help me know that reality as well. 

The promises of God, plus the people of God, equal an unbeatable combination! 

How do I deal with adversity? First, get in touch and stay in touch with God. Second, remember the promises of God. Third, stay close to a community of believers, and finally… 

REST IN GOD 

Imagine yourself being held or upheld at all times. Somewhere I saw the slogan, “Don’t tell God how big your problem is, but tell your problem how big your God is.” 

William Sloane Coffin quotes Vaclav Havel, who was president of the Czech Republic until 2003 and a well-known playwright. Havel writes,

Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but that something makes sense regardless of how it turns out. 

Coffin then adds:

What makes sense, eternal sense, is that God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God and God abides in them.[iii] 

Because of God’s steadfast love and support for us, life makes sense in all circumstances. Or as someone else put it, “Make God the dominating force in your life and be cautiously carefree about everything else in comparison to that.” 

How do you deal with adversity? Abide in God and in God’s love. There is no other way to run the race of life. And there is no other race in this life worth running.