The Bottom Line

I’m a big fan of the character Stone Cold Steve Austin.  You have not got the wrong blog, this is the entry you are meant to be reading in the right blog place.  I do not condone his anti-authority stance.  I do not condone his tendency to resolve matters by stomping and stunnering people into submission (or at least for the three count).  I do not even condone his belligerent manner and habit of communicating in sign language of a vulgar variety (however tempting it is on those weak occasions to succumb to such ways of conveying dissonance with behaviour or perspective).

What I love about Stone Cold Steve Austin is that he lives on declaring what is the bottom line and reinforcing it by the authority of his own character.  It is as if his own name is sufficient to establish a matter and more often than not, for the sake of the storyline and his amazing popularity at his height, that was the case.

I love that because he puts himself across as being a man of his word, even if his word is DTA (Don’t Trust Anybody – not Don’t Trust Austin, although he would of course be included in the Anybody).  I love that because you can learn to depend on that – at least in the context of the travails of his character depiction.

In real life (yes, I know pro-wrestling is not really the real life, though at times it’s a lot more entertaining – sadly those times are becoming fewer and further between, but that’s another blog entry, for the other place) consistency and dependability are values in short supply.  Tragically the only thing that tends to be consistent and reliable is the inconsistency and unreliability of people.  What’s worse is that any examples of such inconsistency or unreliability is reason for withdrawal from engagement to a certain degree for fear of disappointment or worse.

What I keep learning (for I keeping needing to learn) is that if the bottom line is trusting God and His Word then such a tendency of withdrawal can be worked on and eliminated.  If the bottom line is the character of the Most High and understanding that He never fails on His Word than walking in paths of righteousness that He sets gives us every opportunity to trust Him as we love people.  Trusting Him with any hurt if we’re let down as we learn to forgive and love again.  Trusting Him with every venture – you could even say acknowledging Him in all your ways – enables us to see sunlight where others see gloom.

God is holy and true and so in all of life even when bad things happen He can be depended on as an ever present help in that time.  He is also there to prevent complacency or pride creeping in during times of exhilaration and excitement.  He is there to keep our eyes firmly fixed on the things that matter in life.  He is able.  He will do this only for His Name’s Sake.

That’s the bottom line (because the Lord God said so).

For His Name’s Sake

Shalom

dmcd