Going to Hard Places

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference." — Robert Frost, "The Road Not Taken"

This week, as we kicked off the GO series, we looked at the idea that God is a God of action. He is a sending God. And often the places He calls us to go are tough. We are called to go to and through those tough places in our lives.

It reminded me of a scene in the new movie, "42," which was along those lines. In one of the early scenes, Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford) tries to goad Jackie Robinson (Chadwick Boseman) into an angry response. It seems harsh, but it is nothing compared to what Robinson will face on a daily basis.

Robinson responds, "You want someone who doesn't have the guts to fight back?"

Rickey says, "No. I want someone who's got the guts not to fight back."

As Robinson lets that wash over him, Rickey tells him that if he decides to sign the contract and play for the Dodgers he will be despised. It will be a hard road, but he's got to quietly endure it. He says, like our Savior Jesus, Robinson will have to turn the other cheek.

It's hard to imagine, for most of us, being in that kind of situation. It's hard to imagine what those first years — or even the years that followed — were like for Robinson. He was going to a hard place, doing something that was needed but had never been done. And he was despised, by many, for doing it.Yet he went to and through that hard place, and it changed the world.

We don't know what God will call upon us to do. For most of us, it won't be something as hard or scrutinized as what Robinson endured. But whatever it is, God calls us to go to it and through it, and He will make the world better because of it.