Who Cares?!

Who cares?!

Has that question ever conceived itself in your mind. Maybe it only lives there on a tape-loop, or a scratched record [a what?? (check Google)]; or more likely, it has made its way to your vocal cords, ascended to your tongue, been propelled past your teeth, and then launched itself outward in concussive waves of sound? Has it come forth angrily, with flames and vapor trails; or, is it dripping with a jaded, disillusioned, disenchanted sense of disengagement? Or maybe it came as an honest, heartfelt question, born of a desire to understand, and to find solutions and even comrades in arms.

Tonight, I’m not entirely sure in which category I find myself. I want it to be the third one (which, of course, makes me look the most spiritual, right?), but I may be closer to category numbers one or two.

These “who cares?” moments come from time to time, to those who follow Jesus on the sometimes tough pilgrim journey through shadowy valleys, or under the scorching sun of labors and hostilities, or the frozen tundra of spiritual apathy or distractedness. Or they may come as the result of an inner frustration with our un-omnipotent, un-omniscient, finiteness in our efforts to honor and magnify the One who inhabits eternity, and would inhabit the hearts of the hurting and hungry around us, if we could just...care enough.

Sometimes, I feel like Charlie Brown in A Charlie Brown Christmas: “Doesn’t anyone know what Christmas is all about?!”, or me tonight — “Does anyone / Who care(s)?!”

Well, good news: I really do have the answer for that, though — spoiler alert — sometimes we have to wait for our emotions to catch up. Ready?

Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may

exalt you in due time, casting all your

care upon Him, for He cares for you.

~ I Peter 5:6-7

So, go ahead. Say it out loud to yourself — maybe multiple times —- God cares! Let these verses be an altar of remembrance; when the fogs of doubt or discouragement encroach upon your light, or when you are determined to make a difference but may be feeling like an alien in the land [well, actually you are (Hebrews 11:13)], look to this “altar”…believe it, and then chose to worship the One who cares!

Who cares? He who IS does — Absolutely! (Hebrews 11:6).

Shalom,

Brian