Volume 29, No. 4
January 25, 2004

Grace Cut Short

   Seventy-three-year-old Alvin Straight was determined to reach Mt. Zion so, when a few obstacles got in the way, he  just mowed ‘em down.

   His story began in the spring of 1994 when his 80-year-old brother, Henry, had a stroke.  The two hadn’t seen each other in seven years so Alvin decided to make the trip from his home in Laurens, Iowa to Henry’s place in Mt. Zion, 240 miles away.  Trouble was, Alvin didn’t have a license, he wouldn’t let anyone drive him, and he refused to take public transportation.

   No problem.  The stubborn senior hooked a ten-foot trailer to his riding lawn mower and hit the back roads, doing five miles an hour.  It took Alvin six weeks to reach his destination.  “I was so sore I could barely make it with two canes,”  he told reporters when describing his arrival.  

   When CNN carried the story, the Lawn Mower Man became an instant celebrity.  Offers to appear on national talk shows poured in but, true to form, Alvin turned down all of them because he refused to take a train, plane or bus to either coast.  As a footnote to this story, Alvin Straight signed a contract for a movie about his life, but nothing ever came of it.

   Nor will anything come of our efforts to do, in a spiritual sense, what Alvin did, yet many of us try.  Like him, we want desperately to get to Mt. Zion, a place of rest and reunion.  Mt. Zion is “the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem” where “thousands of angels in joyful assembly” gather around the throne (Hebrews 12:22)

   The problem is, we don’t have the spiritual authorization to get to heaven by ourselves.  God gives us no license to rely on our own righteousness, no matter how hard we try to live a good life   That’s because only the perfect can live in his presence and, since we continually sin, we need the grace and mercy of Jesus to cancel our guilt.  He alone can extend those gifts because He took our place on the cross, suffering the punishment for our sins;  sins God no longer holds against us if we claim the free ticket to heaven we qualify for through Christ.  All we must do is ask for it and respond with obedience and gratitude.  Jesus has already done the rest.  He’s “the way, the truth and the life” and no one gets to the Father except through him (John 14:6)

   To make the journey to Mt. Zion even easier, Christ put in place a family of believers to offer love, comfort and support along the way.  Yet we routinely refuse to accept help from the church, especially when we’re struggling.  Whether it’s because we’re too proud to appear weak, or we feel unworthy, we fear rejection, or we just don’t want to be beholden, we stubbornly insist on going it alone, relying on our own strength, intelligence, talent and tenacity.

   While those things have a purpose, they should never be a substitute for the help of God and his people.  Even if our own resources get us where we want to go, the trip to spiritual growth and its ultimate reward will be slower, harder and much more lonely than it was ever intended to be.  After all, we’re in this together.  “Two people can accomplish more than twice as much as one;  they get a better return for their labour,” says Solomon.  “If one person falls, the other can reach out and help.  But people who are alone when they fall are in real trouble... A person standing alone can be defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer.  Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord cannot be broken.”  Especially when God is the third strand (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12)

   In other words, determination is admirable, but not if it’s motivated by pride or stupidity.  Let’s embrace our need for God and each other without shame or hesitation.  Let’s remember Jesus has paid for our ticket and put people in our lives to help with the journey. When it comes to heaven, the grass really is greener on the other side but, in getting there, make sure his grace isn’t cut short.   

By Rick Gamble, published in Cross Current, the weekly newsletter of the Followers of Christ congregation in Brantford, Ontario, Canada.  Reprint at will in not-for-profit publications.  To subscribe, contact sgamble@bfree.on.ca