Breaking Ropes

Steve Brown, in his book God, Are You There? —

“Toscanini, after conducting a Beethoven symphony, said to the musicians in his orchestra, ‘I am nothing. You are nothing. Beethoven is everything!’

“When you come to the place in your life where you can say, ‘I am nothing. God is everything,’ then and only then are you equipped to deal with the meaning behind breaking ropes.”

— Before we cancel Toscanini’s comment, let’s remember what John the Baptizer said in John 3:27-36 about things changing.

To be specific, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” That is, more of Christ Jesus and less of me. KaBoom.

And maybe the image of “breaking ropes” needs some explanation.

For Steve, it’s about a live remote news broadcast of people escaping a burning building’s upper floors by climbing out of windows onto flimsy ropes.

He saw that and wondered, “What if the ropes break?”

Then he realized many people live seemingly ordinary lives exactly like that. Again, KaBoom.

Yikes.

He’s right.

Where’s that leave you?

I’d love to hear from you as always, and look forward to seeing you back here tomorrow.