The Human Rebound

 This past weekend, Pensacola suffered the 3rd wettest day of its history and the wettest day since 1979.  Many parts of the city were flooded and pictures circulated around the nation of parking lots that were supposed to be full of cars and you could barely see the top of the cars in all the water.  One of the more commonly circulated pictures was that of a Burger King that was flooded.  There was no parking lot.  And it was just as wet inside the building as it was outside it.  Then, as I was driving past it today, just two days after all the flooding, I saw it was open for business.  It has a yellow warning tape on some parts of the building and I'm sure the structure took on some water damage, but just a few days after the ordeal, it was "back on its feet".

This got me thinking about how people also were created to bounce back.  Our souls were forged from tougher stuff than bricks.  We can face tragedy and endure.  Like the Burger King, we do not bounce back fully operational...life leaves its scars.  It leaves its wounds.  But we limp on anyway.

The Human Rebound, I'm calling it.  Our innate capacity to recover and press on through circumstances.  There is no universal breaking point among humans.  There is no exact place in our lives where none of us can no longer move on.  In fact, I am finding that when we as individuals come to a place of breaking and giving up on hope and life itself, its because we made a choice to.  At some point, we concluded that it was in our best interest to roll up into a ball rather than live life.  We decided that the only option we had left was to stop trying and the absence of that effort would spare us pain, suffering, and agony.  

But you and I are made from stern stuff.  Our souls were created to be unyielding, unrelenting, and unstoppable.  Only the Creator Himself could tame us.  I believe that is our origin.  And slowly, since the days of Eden, humanity has drifted from its divine heritage.  We have sank deeper into a dark abyss and have forgotten our beginnings.  We like to start the beginning of human history in Genesis 3, not Genesis 1.  We are broken vessels because of sin, yes, but the blood of Christ redeems us! 

The Human Rebound is our heritage; our birthright as adopted children of God.  We have the divine calling to rise up and live hard.  All people have the instinctive drive to press onward.  But without a great hope, how can we hold out?  Jesus Christ is that great hope.  And salvation through faith in Christ secures our calling to endure, to bounce back, to rebound.  

When I examine my own life and the lives of the Christians around me, I do not see the rebounding spirit I wish I could see.  I see myself giving ground to the enemy when I ought to be fighting back and holding on.  I should be tightening my grip when things get heated.  I can worry about the blisters later.  I cling to a greater Hope.  I am without excuse.

We are without excuse.  There is no tragedy too great for us to give up on the life that God has specifically and purposefully set before us.  That is not to say that we do not hurt or that we do not suffer.   But when life gets too heated for us to handle, we must not make giving up an option.  

You are called to greatness.  You have been designed for a purpose.  Do not forsake that. The Lord is our refuge, our rock, and our shelter.  He is our King, our Redeemer, our Provider, and our Friend.  God covers all the bases for us.  He watches our backs even as He paves the road ahead of us.  We are not without help.  We are not without hope.

If you are my brother or sister in Christ, remember your heritage.  Do not forget the One who set you free from chains that were beyond your power.  You must not give up on God.  He will pull you through; keep trusting Him.

Rebound. Again and again...as many times as it takes.  Never give up your right to live.

Rebound.