Wookiee + Tolls = Love

Here’s the deal, I don’t like paying tolls. I’m sure there are many people out there like me who feel that you should be able to get around a city or across a bridge without taking out a second mortgage. Wookiee has a very different sentiment, she loves them. In fact, out of all things that we do in the truck, tolls have to be right up there with the best of them. The reason, I see them as a negative, she expects them to be a positive experience. Her reasoning comes from the fact that quite a few toll booths lately have noticed her head trying to squeeze out the window and they reward her with treats. It’s made for a few comical situations where a hundred pound dog is crazily bouncing around while I try to pay a toll.

This brings up an interesting point…expectations are everything. Think about your past experiences and compare…seriously think about it. How many services have you gone into when you were tired, stressed out, depressed, etc. and walked out thinking it was a waste of time. Compare that to the times that you walked into a conference or special meeting expecting things to be awesome. How do the experiences compare? Granted there are situations where God can work through your terrible days and turn things around for you, but most of the time you get out what you put in. If you expect a lot, you get way more out of something than when you expect nothing.

This principle applies from the small to the great. Read Luke 5:17-26. Go ahead I’ll wait. Look at the expectation these guys had for Jesus to heal their friend. They couldn’t get through the mass of people in the house so they climb to the roof and let him down on a mat. You don’t go through all that trouble if you think, “hey it’s 50/50”. These guys were totally convinced that he could and would do something great. They expected a miracle and that’s what they got. As Christians we have to fight a constant battle against cynicism. It’s built into the world we live in and it’s so easy to fall prey to, but we must overcome.

I believe that God is going to do bigger things in the future, through the church in large, but also through me personally. I don’t get this by watching the news or reading the paper, that’s just depressing. I hear about kids killing their parents, Christianity being assaulted from every corner, my rights being stripped away, but I think back to something I read. Where sin abounds, grace abounds much more (romans 5:20). Expectation is key. You can sit around and get depressed because of what you read and see, or you can get excited about what God can do to and through all those same situations. Take a cue from Wookiee, maybe the tolls aren’t that bad after all.