In this world, you will have locks
Navigating a tight space As usual, I am up before others on this ship, leaving to me the beauty of the early sunlight and the calm waters of the Rhine River. This morning, though, I am also watching a wall with a dramatic warning triangle slowly raise up, allowing the ship entrance to a lock. Even from this distance, it looks like an impossibly tight fit. We slowly slide in. A crew member secures us to the float in the lock. I glance back along the side and whistle softly – a few inches stand between the ship and a grinding scrape along the concrete wall. How could the captain be so precise at the wheel? This quickly connects, in my brain, to another tight space I came across in the Gospel of John. In John 16, Jesus sees that “his hour” has come and his death is imminent. So, in his great love for his disciples, he comforts them with a Kingdom view of what was about to happen. In verse 33, he says: “In this world you will have trouble. But be of good cheer! I have overcome the ...
