Removing life's training wheels

As a pastor I step, and sometimes I am pulled, into the crises of others -- an unexpected crisis that comes with a 2 a.m. phone call. Then there is that crisis that comes when decades of bad decisions finally catch up. The one comes out of the blue, the other you can see coming but are shocked when it arrives. Crisis is the fuel that ignites the flames of grief.

The Bible tells us that crisis, though perhaps not designed by God, can produce a greater joy than the loss that the original grief promised.

2 Corinthians 7:10 says "For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death."

I'm getting ready to take the training wheels off my youngest son's bike. He says he's ready to take them off. I'm not certain I am.

Teaching a kid to ride a bike is painful. There is a tremendous anxiety that they have and you share. They feel an uneasiness that they've never felt before. All of a sudden the stability of a bike with training wheels is gone. You can see fear and anxiety written all over their faces. They have one thing they want to know -- will you let go?

Here's the tricky part. I'm going to let go. I don't leave them, but I let go. When I let go there is an extreme probability that they will fall and it will hurt. But I still will let go.

If I don't let go, they won't fall. But if I don't let go, they won't ride either. Holding on means there will be no skinned knees, no tears or grief. But if I don't let go, they will never learn to get back up or ride on their own. The pain of letting go is overshadowed by the thrill of riding.

Godly grief says you're going to fall but the grief and sorrow caused by the fall will produce a greater joy that could not have been known without the fall. We want a life free of grief, anxiety and sorrow. We want a risk-free life; a life on training wheels. God however wants more for us. The grief that He allows can bring about a change in our lives from self to Him.

Godly grief produces a life with no regrets. There may be pain, but no regrets.

Rob Hurtgen is a husband, father, minister and writer. Read more from him at www.robhurtgen.wordpress.com.