Thursday, February 17, 2011

Strongmen

"Sovereign LORD, you have begun to show to your servant your greatness and your strong hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do the deeds and mighty works you do?" 
- Deuteronomy 3:24
 
One of the segments at the circus was the "Ukrainian Strongmen". They did various feats of strength, including spinning a log like a baton and capping it off by picking up a pair of crossed telephone-pole-sized logs with swings attached (each holding a dancing girl) and then spinning the whole rig like a carnival ride. For good measure, one of the clowns jumped up on the logs and went along for the ride.
We did get a picture during the show, but it was pretty blurry, so we snagged this one from Ringling Brothers' website.
 In a humorous twist, Ezra snatched the straw from our cup of lemonade and decided it was his "log". He was swinging it and spinning it around as if he was imitating the strongmen. 

Ezra has become our own little strongman at home as well. He squirms and struggles whenever we change his diaper and manages to flip himself over and crawl away while we try to dress him. We have to constantly drag him back and chastise him (you can imagine how well that works!) to stay still. And Heaven forbid you let him get a hold of something he likes...you'll never get it away from him.

As funny and amazing as these two things are, it brings to mind that we are much like Ezra in his struggles and squirming when it comes to God. But ultimately, God is infinitely stronger than we are and can endure any amount of our struggling against him. Watching the two circus strongmen was impressive, but the feats they perform are pitifully small compared to the might and power of God. He can hold the universe in his hand and think nothing of it.

Thank God that He's as infinitely patient as he is strong. :)