As an eight year old boy traveling with his 12 year old brother to Disney World the excitement could not have been more. We drove up to our hotel and out to the side was a huge spiral slide. Disney could wait until after I had time on the new found slide. After sliding for several minutes I suggested we make a train of two to slide down together. Unfortunate for me was the fact that my right knee became a brake that prevented us from going fast and also burned the first 2 layers of skin away. The pain was not that bad until it scabbed over and I couldn’t bend my leg. I was gimp in one leg and became the anchor for the whole family. I had crutches provided by the clinic there in Disney but the whole trip was a reminder of my poor decision to enjoy a 2-boy train on a slide to contempt.
Have you ever had to suffer the pain of being the one who prevents everyone else from having fun? You wish for a do-over but none are possible. You ask everyone else to just go ahead of you but they would rather feel contempt for you than to let you be alone and feel guilty. Whether a physical ailment, emotional upheaval, or relational tsunami has hamstringed you there is a Father who knows where you are.
John Mark left Paul at Pamphylia because of the dangers of sharing the gospel and what he had seen happen to those that followed Jesus. Paul insisted in Acts 15 that he would not take John Mark with him because his faith had failed him previously. John Mark went home but God sent Barnabas to lovingly take a chance on John Mark and it proved to be a great move. Not only did he write the gospel of Mark, but Paul in 2 Timothy 4:11 says, “…Bring Mark with you when you come, for he will be helpful to me in my ministry.” John Mark was restored and was no longer looked down upon by the apostle Paul.
Next time you feel like the skinny kid with the gimp leg and everyone else is belaboring your presence look around for a Barnabas. The slide to contempt can cause you to never trust again or be the best thing that ever happened to you. If you can’t find a Barnabas then become the one everyone else is looking for! Let the slide to contempt be the spring board to a new understanding of Christ.
