Breaking The Ice
This guest post was written by Tripp Graziano. Tripp is a YL leader in NC and the Director of The Greensboro Fellows program we’ve previously mentioned on the blog. Greensboro Fellows will soon begin taking applications for the fall of 2013.
Slippery ice, very thin,
Pretty girl tumbles in,
Saw a boy on the bank,
Gave a shriek, then she sank.
Boy on hand, heard her shout,
Jumped right in, pulled her out.
Now she’s his, very nice.
But she had to break the ice.
I’ve heard this poem spoken before, but found it again while reading the book “I, Isaac, Take Thee, Rebekah” by Ravi Zacharias. It really is a fun poem. It is quite funny, makes you think, and even reveals some truth about how things work. Sometimes it can be tricky finding out who is actually in pursuit.
My buddy has a saying that has always stuck with me. Several times he has said to me, “You know, the Lord does way more behind our backs than in front of our faces.” I think the longer I live, the more I am able to trust and observe this saying as true. I even look at my own story and see that the times I thought I was “seeking the Lord”, He was the one who had already sought me out and scheduled our introduction.
These days I find myself on a high school campus several times a week. I’m usually hanging out during the week with the underclassmen as they wait after school for their parents to pick them up. (It’s amazing how many friends you can make by standing still in the same spot consistently.) Most weeks I also find myself attending an evening athletic event such as football, soccer, lacrosse, or basketball. This is how I pursue my high school friends, and I love this time where I get to encourage them and occasionally yell at a very deserving ref.
This past Friday I received a text from one of my freshman friends that made my buddy’s words come to life all over again. It read, “Hey, it’s me! Can you bring me Chick-fil-a on Monday? I have B lunch. Thanks.” I’m looking forward to Monday, now. For the past seven weeks I have invited myself into his world. And really, I have showed up mostly uninvited. Monday is going to be different. I have an invitation.
I think back to the time I was finally able to see that the Lord was present in my life. It was 11:30pm and my cell phone rang from an unknown number. I debated whether to answer or not, and when I did it was the father of one of my friends. A lot of things happened in our conversation over the next hour, but before it was over, I invited the Lord into my life. It’s amazing how a simple invitation can change everything! And it’s now that I am finally able to see…He spent 24 years breaking through my ice.
