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Are you ready?


Recently, Dave Ayers, a zamboni driver, got the most unexpected call.  For those Southerners like me, a zamboni is a machine that smooths over the ice on an ice rink.  They come out in hockey games between the three periods.  Like the people who drag grates over the infield between innings in a baseball game and wet the dirt to smooth things out and avoid dust, the zamboni smooths and refreezes the top of the ice for a smooth playing surface.  So, it was a shock when 42 year old Dave Ayers, a zamboni drive got the call to come into the game.

Dave is the emergency goal keeper for the Carolina Hurricanes and the two other keepers were both injured.  Although starting slow and allowing two goals, Dave got up to game speed and being prepared he helped Carolina to a 6-3 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs by stopping eight shots.  Dave described the event as a once in a lifetime experience.  When the moment came, Dave was ready!

Lent is a season of preparation and focus so that when our moment comes, we’ll be ready.  Lent helps ensure that when we get that unexpected call at that unexpected time we will be prepared.  Lent is the forty days prior to the Easter Season, not counting the Sundays.  Sundays remains a time of Easter Celebration throughout the year.  But the forty days, the Mondays through Saturdays that begin this Wednesday, February 26th on Ash Wednesday are a season of making sure that our souls are prepared for Easter.

Like the big game that we’ve yearned to be a part of our whole lives, Easter is just around the corner.  The risen savior adorned in glory will come again and the world beyond the tears of this life has been made known through Jesus.  Of course, as Christians we don’t have to wait for the call to go in.  Jesus has given each one of us direct access and abundant opportunity to make a difference in the world around us right now.

In Lent, we prepare for what we as Christians are already doing.  We repent of where we have fallen short.  And, and we join new believers in being reminded of what we believe about the God who became flesh and dwelt among us so that we might have life.

Are you ready?  This Lent, I encourage you to let go of something harmful or pick up a healthy habit to devote more of your life to following Jesus.  Through God’s grace and faith, Jesus can free you from temptations and empower your journey.  The discipline of the effort will help you have grace for others and deepen your appreciation for Jesus.  As a follower of Jesus, you’ve been called into the game.  Are you eady?

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