Guitar Case Idolatry

     Recently I bought a new guitar. It's beautiful and everything a guitar should be. One of the things that made me especially excited was the hard case that came with it. For the last nine years I have had to carry a pegboard case which was left wanting in my eyes. Cool kids carry hard cases with stickers on it. And I wanted one. I wanted it really bad. Looking the part was half the battle, right? How was anyone going to take me seriously if I had a subpar case? Especially at all those high profile gigs I play...oh wait, no gigs, just occasionally playing a song or two for a youth group of 40 kids. But I NEEDED that case.

     And I got it.

     Let me tell you, cool kids don't carry those cases, strong kids carry those cases. Like really strong people. They must be strong as an ox. It's ridiculous. When I carry it, I wish that someone would offer to carry it for me. It makes me grumpy whenever I have to carry it and I'll choose to leave it at my office rather than take it home. I get winded carrying it up the stairs. Sometimes I take the elevator up one floor. That's embarrassing. But its crazy heavy.

    And isn't life the same way? We want something so much, long for it, hope for it. And then we get it and it is much heavier than we expect. There are more implications than we are aware of. The thing that was supposed to make us "cool" actually makes us burdened. It takes away our freedom. The one thing we hoped for becomes a paralyzing possession. Then we hope that someone will take it from us, save us from our oppression.

    This is a hard place to be. Overwhelmed, disappointed and afraid to hope for anything else. But we can be free. We can hope and be restored, because Jesus saves us. And not just from the big picture, eternal stuff, but from the everyday, practical stuff. His love is big enough to save my soul and intimate enough to save me from my monotonous idolatry. There is life in that. That is hallelujah.