Dear Rose Park,
I haven’t been roller skating in years. The last time I went was probably in college with a bunch of friends. I remember waking up the next morning with a bruised tailbone and a humbled ego. Besides the annual trip to the roller rink in elementary school, roller skating wasn’t something I did a lot growing up, but tonight I’ll do my best to lace up a well worn pair of roller skates and stay on my feet at the GEMS roller skating party.
The worst part of roller skating is falling and if you’re anything like me, falling is inevitable. It’s a scary feeling to lose your balance and know you’re going to fall. You reach and flail with your arms to grab a hold of something, but eventually there comes a split second where you realize that you’re not going to regain your balance but you are going to fall to the ground. You find yourself sitting on your backside, legs straight out, and hoping no one saw you. But here’s the thing: everyone falls. Even better, there isn’t a rule against falling. There might be a rule about skating in the wrong direction, but just because you fall down doesn’t mean you have to leave the party. Friends, there’s a lesson to be learned here.
We all fall down. We all make mistakes and make a fool of our self. We all do things we wish we could undo. We all fall short of the glory of God. We all turn our back on Him. We all are undeserving of grace. Yet in spite of our foolishness and in spite of our falling down, we don’t get kicked out of the party. We aren’t asked to leave. We aren’t exiled to the picnic tables to watch everyone else skate. We aren’t pushed away from the presence of God. God graciously and lovingly helps us back on our feet, offers a few encouraging words and advice, and then pushes us back onto the floor to skate.
Here’s another way to say it: “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39). Paul wrote these words to the church in Rome some two-thousand years ago, but they still ring true today. There is nothing, not one single thing, that can separate you from the love of God.
So, no matter how many foolish things you do, how many times you turn your back on God, or how many times you fall on the skating rink of life you still cannot be separated from His love.
Grace & Peace,
Pastor Mark
PS: We hope to see you tonight at the HOME Roller Skating Rink from 6-8PM!