When Jesus asked his two disciples if they were ready to drink form the cup he drank from and to be baptized with the baptism he would be baptized with, they replied, \u201cWe are able.\u201d<\/p>\n
When I was in Junior High I was bullied by a group of boys so much so that I would have to race home to keep from being beat up. They called me names, and threatened me daily. Then one summer one of them confronted me while I was mowing a neighbor\u2019s yard. He wanted to fight. I said, \u201cNo. Christians don\u2019t fight.\u201d He replied with a crass comment about Christ and before I could think. I had pushed him down and sat on top of him\u2014my knees on his arms. I raised my fist and told him to leave me alone.<\/p>\n
At that moment I was grabbed under the arms and hoisted to the fence. With my shirt bunched in the young man\u2019s grasp and his fist held high, I gasped. It was the boy\u2019s older brother\u2014a Golden Glove winning boxer. He glared at me and yelled, \u201cSay you are a wimp, and I\u2019ll leave you alone!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/em>I knew he would pound me to a pulp. It was gonna hurt really bad. So I ducked my head and whimpered, \u201cI\u2019m a wimp.\u201d He made me say it again before he let me go. He picked up his little brother and they left me standing alone in my shame against the fence.<\/p>\n I have regretted it ever since. Whenever I shrink from a hard task, neglect doing things I know are important, or take the easy road to the battle, I am reminded of this one event.<\/p>\n Many times I answer the call to duty with the words, \u201cI cannot\u201d in my mind.<\/p>\n When it comes to writing, I still struggle with this. I am not good enough. In the movie \u201cIn the Heart of the Sea\u201d Herman Melville tells a man, \u201cI am not Nathaniel Hawthorne.\u201d And I say, \u201cI am not Herman Melville.\u201d Someone may one day say, \u201cI\u2019m not as good as Jon Hopkins.\u201d It is easy to discount reader\u2019s praise for my work. But I just write and try my best to do it well.<\/p>\n In every life there are experiences of darkness. When we are put up against the fence-edge of dread the Master asks, \u201cAre you able to follow me through this trial, this sacrifice, this mystery of pain?\u201d We must remember that the greatest blessings of grace lie beyond this experience. He leads me. I am not able. I wimp out. But I follow the One who is able. Anyone can do the possible. He can do the impossible.<\/p>\n Today I will say to the raised fist, \u201cBring it.\u201d And trust in God to lead the way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When Jesus asked his two disciples if they were ready to drink form the cup he drank from and to be baptized with the baptism he would be baptized with, they replied, \u201cWe are able.\u201d When I was in Junior High I was bullied by a group of boys so much so that I would […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonhopkins.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonhopkins.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonhopkins.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonhopkins.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonhopkins.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jonhopkins.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37,"href":"https:\/\/jonhopkins.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36\/revisions\/37"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonhopkins.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonhopkins.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonhopkins.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}