PARADOX

While stuck on the tarmac at CVG recently, I was trying to wait patiently as the plane underwent repairs before take off. About 30 minutes in, my fellow travelers and I got a much needed distraction. The flight attendant pointed to a large plane across from us with some unusual passengers. The fleet of trailors that drove in like the Spanish Armada quickly revealed that the plane was loaded with high-dollar horses! It seemed paradoxical to watch dozens of these animals which once provided a major means of transportation, trot out of a jet airplane. And, yes, as we sat motionless at the gate it was tempting to joke about whether they could get us to our destination more quickly!

One of the things that makes life so interesting, and often fun, is that it's full of irony. The great A.W. Tozer captured the paradox of the Christian life in his book, The Root of Righteousness. I hope this quote from Tozer will encourage you as much as it has me!

“A REAL CHRISTIAN is an odd number anyway. He feels supreme love for One whom he has never seen, talks familiarly every day to Someone he cannot see, expects to go to heaven on the virtue of Another, empties himself in order to be full, admits he is wrong so he can be declared right, goes down in order to get up, is strongest when he is weakest, richest when he is poorest, and happiest when he feels worst. He dies so he can live, forsakes in order to have, gives away so he can keep, sees the invisible, hears the inaudible, and knows that which passes knowledge.”