Stories are Easy, Life is Tough.

Fall is a great time of year. It is starting to get cooler and some folks back home (in SC) are beginning to think about hunting season. My favorite person to hunt with was my cousin. One problem my cousin had when we went hunting or other outdoor activities was that he was deathly allergic to ant bites. He was so allergic that our family doctor kept the antidote in a refrigerator in his office.

It was during Indian summer that my cousin, my uncle and I were out with our shotguns taking some practice shots and looking for good hunting places for the upcoming season. We are from the country so we have great hunting land around the house. It was an awesome morning walking through the woods talking and having a great time.

One treasure you can find this time of year is a yellow jacket nest. These aggressive bees make their nest in the ground which allows us can stand several yards away and shoot into the nest with our shotguns and watch them swarm trying to find someone to sting. We are in the woods or out in a field so we are the only person in danger of getting stung which is half the fun.

We did that for a while but the sun was warm and we decided to take a break and eat our lunch. We sat down to eat and by the time we got our sandwiches out my cousin started jumping around slapping his legs and back. I thought the yellow jackets found him but when he stood up he was covered in fire ants. I grabbed the shot guns and started running for the house. I called the doctor and asked him to meet us at the office. I then ran back to help my uncle get my cousin to the car. I jumped in the car and headed down the road (John Robinson Hill) at 100 miles per hour. We ran red lights and headed to the doctor’s office next to the hospital. It had been twenty minutes between the time my cousin got his first ant bite and we stopped in the parking lot of the doctor’s office. My cousin was shaking and having a hard time breathing, ten minutes later he was in anaphylactic shock. Twenty minutes later he died. He died right there in the parking of the building that had the medicine he needed. Five minutes after my cousin died the doctor showed up at the office. WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!?! He DIED right here this close to the medicine he needed to live! WHY DID IT TAKE YOU SO LONG!?! If ONLY YOU HAD BEEN HERE, HE WOULD BE ALIVE!!!

Way too often we read the Bible like a story book. The people are characters in a story. They are not like us they are characters. In John 11:1-45 we read the account of Jesus and Lazarus. Mary and Martha Lazarus’ sisters sent word to Jesus that his friend was sick. Jesus showed up after he was buried three days. Calls him out of the grave ***poof*** all is great they have a party.

What we don’t see is the real human drama. Lazarus is sick, very sick and his sisters call to Jesus for help. They know Jesus can help, they have seen him heal the sick, they have seen him give sight to the blind, they have no doubt. Lazarus' fever is higher; Mary and Martha take turns staying up with him, putting wet towels on his head but he is getting worse. Where is Jesus? Lazarus can hardly breathe. Neither Mary nor Martha has slept over an hour in days. Where is Jesus? LAZARUS IS DEAD!!! WHERE IS JESUS? They bury Lazarus, his friends are there and he is dead. Where is Jesus? Three days he is in the grave and still no Jesus. Finally after three days Jesus shows up… A heartbroken Martha sees Jesus; she still loves him but has to say, “If you had only been here he would still be alive!” Jesus calls for the tomb to be opened and calls Lazarus to come out and he does.

If we just read the accounts as stories we always expect a happy ending. As you can see after 45 verses there is no more sickness, no sleepless nights, no waiting for days, no other side stories, just a happy ending.

Funny thing is life does not work that way. There are sleepless nights, there is waiting, we don’t know Jesus will raise the dead at the end of 45 verses…

Our 45 verses do tell of pain, our 45 verses do tell of the wondering where Jesus is, and in our 45 verses we do not know there will be a happy ending. That is the way real life works. In life we live past the 45 verses. In life the next thing happens and we are wondering what now. So the next time you read a Biblical account don’t just read the verses but read about the human drama. Read about the people not the characters. By the way, in the next verses the religious leaders plot to kill Lazarus.