Bowling With Christ – Pin #2: The Straight and Narrow
Hello Friends,
How are you doing? Were you able to catch that mischievous, wee-little, green hat wearing, gold buckled, Leprechaun this past Friday? I can remember when I was your age, every year I set a trap to catch a Leprechaun; but no matter what I created or developed or how much string, glue, or duct tape I used that old Leprechaun always seemed to out smart me. And in the process, it would turn the water in my toilet green, remove all my socks out of my drawers, play with all my toys, and and make a mess in the kitchen. I don’t know how that old Leprechaun had enough time to do all that and more. However, I kept trying to catch it! So, were you able to catch a Leprechaun this year?
Last week, I told you that we were going bowling with Jesus for the next few weeks. Together, with the help from our friend Angela G., we are going to explore how bowling can help us understand Jesus in our life. We are going to ask ourselves what the bowling lane means, what the bumpers represent, what the weight of the bowling ball teaches us, and so much more. We begin our first bowling analogy by looking at the lane, the alley, the straight and narrow pathway.
Matthew 7:14 says that it is the narrow way that leads to life. Isaiah 35:8 states, “And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness; it will be for those who walk on that Way.” And King Solomon, a man of 3,000 plus proverbs of wisdom, wrote, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6). The Scriptures are filled with instructions, knowledge, and wisdom about how to seek the narrow way, the straight path, to Jesus.
A straight and narrow path is the exact path a bowling ball needs to travel to hit all ten of the pins. A little to the left or right and you might only get a few or end up with a split or even perhaps in the the gutter. But for little ones just learning the game, aim can be lacking. With bumpers, balls that might be skewed too far to one side or the other are gently bumped back toward the center for a better chance at hitting something. In life, sometimes what Jesus needs us to aim for gets skewed or messed up because we want something else; and therefore, our path gets a little catawampus and wavy and all over the place. We only get a few pins of Jesus’ plan instead of getting all the pins of Jesus’ plan. Just like the bowling ball, once it leaves our hands, impacts the floor, and begins its journey toward the pins, we seek to remain on the path that leads to Jesus and avoids the gutter–avoids a path that is catawampus.
In order to remain on the straight and narrow path towards the pins, we must remember to pray, to read scripture, to do and say what Jesus would do and say, and to trust Jesus with our whole heart as we come to love him more each and every day. If we don’t have trust, then our bowling ball will end up all over the place and our path won’t be the path that Jesus as laid before us, we will miss some of the pins. This week, I invite you to remember the following verse from Proverbs 3:6, “In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”
Next week, we encounter those life-saving bumpers!
Your Friend, Holy Spirit!
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