Potential

The children’s moment yesterday was based on modeling clay. The whole “moment” was a good lesson for all of us, but what especially struck me was at the beginning. Joe held up the flat, rectangular piece of blue clay, and asked the kids, “What will this become?”

The answer, of course, was that it could become anything (as long as it was blue). Unlimited potential. Do we ever have enough faith to believe that?

This morning I was watching the Today program. They did a segment about the new winner of the Tour de France, Floyd Landis. In 2003, Landis suffered a training accident which injured his hip and the top of his femur. He had two operations to correct the problem, but the top of his right femur would not heal. He developed avascular necrosis, which is bone death caused by a lack of blood flow. It has made the bone in this area comparable to rotting wood. He has a limp (which he has hidden) and can’t run. It is painful to climb stairs. In fact, 25 – 50% of the bone in this joint has collapsed. Landis’ orthopedic surgeon said that “he would have bet his house” that Landis could not be competitive in the Tour de France.

But compete he did.

On July 19, he had the “worst ride of his life,” leaving him 8 minutes behind the leader. I don’t know much about sports, but 8 minutes sounds like a REALLY long time.

So consider where he stood. Eight minutes behind, with a disease that was degrading his hip joint. What potential could we see in that?

He went on the next day to have what the French newspaper L’Equipe called “the ride of the century,” and he won the Tour de France. Wow.

We’re pretty quick to say that this is a story of human determination – that even with horrible odds, in a situation which doesn’t seem to provide much hope for victory at all, triumph was snatched from defeat. What we would see as hopeless, Landis was able to see as potential. And we would be right.

Why is it that we are so slow to have the same faith in God as we are to have in a fellow human being? Do we have enough faith to say that the lump of clay can become whatever God wishes? Can we believe enough in the power and grace of God to say:

• That the young boy in vacation Bible school who won’t sit still, who talks all the time, and who is Frustration with a capital F, still might be feeling the touch of God through us, even if we can’t see it?
• That the man addicted to drugs might finally see the light, and grab hold of his life, before it is completely gone?
• That even the hardest heart in a church can be touched by grace, and we will have the joy of seeing the change?
• That God can take a church whose service to the poor was mainly through a few individuals and some monetary contributions, and create a church that welcomes homeless for a meal each week – that incorporates them into the Body as indispensable members? (Oh, wait, I’ve already seen most of that happen).

Potential. Endless possibilities for an unformed piece of square blue clay. Do we have enough faith to believe? Do we believe in God enough to understand that even what seems impossible to us, is only potential to God?

I'm working on it.