JUST THINKING: Life-When Everything Doesn't Come Together

      I was just thinking about the penchant the Mitchell family has for jigsaw puzzles. We love the challenge of having 1,000 pieces jumbled and undone before us with full intention of making them come together. Our goal, of course, is to make them look like the photo on the box. Karen and I opened up one of those boxes of challenge and we worked on it for a few days… but we gave up! Everything just did not come together as it was supposed to!

Some Amazing Lyrics

      Stormie Omartian penned the words to my favorite song, and it is one I hope will be sung at my funeral. It is “Pieces.” I consider it a testimony of my life. Here are a few of the lyrics:

      “Pieces, pieces. So many pieces to my life. Scattered all around and some of them are gone, and I know I can never put them back together again. Pieces, pieces. So many pieces to my life. A puzzle unfinished, jumbled and unformed, who can really even fit it all together again?”

Our Lives End Up in Pieces When We Try to Take Control

      Cain and Abel came before the Lord with their offerings. Abel did what God required, but Cain did not. Cain immediately saw his life fall apart. He was an unfinished puzzle, and it all began with a bad choice.

         I answered God’s call to the ministry at age 18. However, my personal goal was to be a coach. I chose to pursue that goal instead of God’s goal — bad choice! I met a beautiful girl with whom I fell in love — great choice! Yet in my effort to control my life, I ended up in the U.S. Army for four and a half years. But the Lord put Karen in my life as my wife, and through her, He began to put the pieces back together. That is why I say “Pieces”is my song of testimony.

Lives That End Up in Pieces Focused on Circumstance and Not Faith

      Most are familiar with the account of Peter walking on water. He had faith to step out of the boat. He even walked for a short distance, but as the wind and waves swirled, he focused on his circumstances, not his faith in Christ, who beckoned to him. But as he was sinking, Jesus reached out His hand and Peter put his faith back together again. Isn’t that what believers need when our lives are falling apart?

      Stormie Omartian wrote these lyrics in “Pieces” — “In a vision like a daydream that filters through my mind, I saw Jesus coming closer, holding all my hopes combined. He spoke with great compassion as He put one hand on me, and in the other hand He held what I could never see.”

      What Peter couldn’t see was that Jesus held the water, wind and waves in His hand. “And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down” (Matt. 14:32 NIV).

Our Lives May be in Pieces for a While

      Circumstances seemingly are endless distractions to our lives, leading to discontentment and feelings of hopelessness. Yet God, who knows the end from the beginning, can put the pieces back together again. The wise man, Solomon, was inspired to write: “When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider this: God has made one as well as the other. Therefore, no one can discover anything about their future” (Eccl. 7:14).

      None of us is exempt from the difficulties of life. Everything doesn’t always come together as we plan. Sometimes it seems like our lives are falling apart, and we cannot put them together again.

      Here is the last part of “Pieces” — “He said, ‘Pieces, pieces. I’ve got all the pieces to your life. In my hands I hold the pieces of every single day. I can put them all together, so they’ll never fall away. I can put them all together, and there will never be another one who can.’”

      When things in life are not working out so well, like Peter, look to Jesus. He will lift you up!