In the classic movie The Shining, there is a horrifying yet tantalizing scene of Jack Nicholson axing through a door declaring crazily, “Here’s Johnny.” In this renewed creative work of mine, I kind of feel like that scene where I am axing through the door of busy-ness, of distractions, of creative mind-block and more … in a crazy world. I sometimes feel like Nicholson and life is driving me crazy, and I sometimes feel like my world is inside the room and the rest of the world is axing into it. 

Nicholson shows me one truth though – I am not in control.  In the movie, it is the snow and isolation that seems to be the impetus of the craziness. But it is so much more too. There is another line he  says that kind of points to the way I feel the world is coming at me …

I’m not going to hurt you … I’m just going to bash your brains in.  

OUCH!

I am not in control.

• The storm causes spots on the highway that yields to a car hydroplaning off the road: I am not in control
• I am walking a trail in perfectly dry and (semi) clean shoes when I step in a muddy water hole, or a pile of something else: I am not in control
• I eat my vegetables and exercise, yet I am diagnosed with a life altering, or life ending disease: I am not in control
• I have a paper to finish for school and the power is knocked out for hours: I am not in control
• I think I’ve found the girl with whom I want to spend my life and my parents make me move 2000 miles away: I am not in control
• I raise a child, teach him Biblical, Christocentric world view, yet he rebels and turns to the ways of the world not the Word: I am not in control
• I buy and build a home that I try to use to honor God and a storm destroys it in seconds: I am not in control
• I leave my child for 30 seconds to get something and a tragedy hits that from which I will never recover: I am not in control
• The office catches on fire, the car breaks down, a pandemic hits the world, wall street crashes because politicians bicker over minutae while Rome burns, the love of my life dies of cancer, I’m left alone with no family, no friends, no hope

It’s as if the world is saying — I’m not going to hurt you … I’m just going to bash your brains in.  

Soooo – It’s Monday, August 1st. I am returning to Muddy Shoes from an extended hiatus, and what do I write about? I am not in control. Life gets muddy this way.

QUESTION: So how do you get through all this? How does one survive a world that clearly shows you that ‘you are not in control’? 

ANSWER: You get to know the One who is control. You learn His ways. Trust His power. Rely on His providence. Live according to His principles. You Fix Your Eyes on Him. Run the race, muddy shoes and all, with chaos and mayhem all around, with life trying to bash your brains in, but run it knowing He understands, He ran it too, and He is in control.

Fix your eyes on Jesus.

As I start Muddy Shoes back up, I hope together we see more of life’s funny mayhem and the Lord’s powerful faithfulness. We can fix our eyes together – and let’s start doing it today. Just one day at a time. One section of the race. Just Monday. Just today. You are not in control, but He is – so fix your eyes on Jesus.

—— Pics from The Shining are used.