from Ron Rose
May 5, 2008

Preparation

In 2004 a low budget, independent film, called Napoleon Dynamite made a high school misfit named Napoleon into a pop culture icon. In one of the storylines, Napoleon wants to get a date with a popular girl named Trisha, but he doesn’t think he’s good enough. He talks openly with his new friend Pedro:

Napoleon Dynamite: Well, nobody's going to go out with ME!
Pedro: Have you asked anybody yet?
Napoleon Dynamite: No, but who would? I don't even have any good skills.
Pedro: What do you mean?
Napoleon Dynamite: You know, like nunchuk skills, bow-hunting skills, computer hacking skills. Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills.
Pedro: Aren't you pretty good at drawing, like animals and warriors and stuff?
Napoleon Dynamite: Yes... probably the best that I know of.
Pedro: Just draw a picture of the girl you want to take out... and give it to her for like a gift or something.
Napoleon Dynamite: That's a pretty good idea.

Truth is, his drawings are horrible, but he doesn’t know it. He is blissfully unaware of the social world around him, but he has an innate conviction that you have to have skills before anyone will care about you. Somewhere he has accepted the misconception that love is based on the right set of skills.

In real life, we struggle with a similar misconception. Deep down we wonder if we are good enough to be loved by the God who made us. At times, doubt wiggles its way into our alone moments… Am I good enough or strong enough? Do I know enough? Am I right enough or skilled enough? Am I really worthy enough to be part of God’s family, much less a faith giant in the kingdom?

No! You don’t have access to enough enough-ness to make it… But God does. It’s all about him. God has a net of grace that works all the time in spite of our inadequacies and insufficiencies… he is enough, more than enough. So work on; stretch out; try the impossible. He has the skills.

Inspiration

In the 1930’s the most notable building project in the San Francisco Bay area was the Golden Gate Bridge. Once the two massive towers were completed on the opposite sides of the Golden Gate Straits, the workers began the slow and dangerous process of building the single suspension bridge that many said was destined for failure.

Millions of miles of cables were stretched back and forth across the dangerous waters below. After the cables were set, they were encased in steel housings. As cables were dropped to the deck below a roadway slowly took shape.

This process was dangerous enough under normal conditions, but the Golden Gate Strait was far from normal. At times, the wind would gust without warning to sixty miles per hour, swirling from unexpected directions. Catching the steel workers off guard, these strong winds were causing falls that ended in tragedy. The current under the bridge was so strong that, even if a workman survived the fall, the current would pull him under the surface and not release him until his body reached the Farallone Islands—miles off the coast.

As men fell to their death, fear grew in the workers and the unfinished bridge was in danger of becoming a monument to failure. They spent their time protecting themselves, risking nothing; they were paralyzed by what might happen.

Finally a giant safety net was installed under the work area. It took a while for the workers to learn to trust the net. But once trusted, the work pace improved, workers were saved, and the world famous bridge was completed.

That knowledge… the experience of the net, not new information or new skills did it. Trusting the net changed everything.

Motivation

Grace is a faith step. And, it must be experienced and just talked about. We have to do more than teach and believe grace, we have to experience is to trust it.

Have you been tested? Do you know first hand what I’m talking about in this Notes? Tell me what you’ve learned… tell me about the time that changed everything for you.