Clergy Comment: Knowing is half the battle

When I was in middle school I’d run like a madman from the bus stop after school to get home in time to see my favorite show, “G.I. Joe.”

It was the mid-1980s and “G.I. Jo” was at the pinnacle of his commercial success. I’d settle down in front of our big wooden console television, as I recall had more wood than actual screen.

Despite its appearance, it was sufficient to usher me into a world of fascination and fantasy for the next 30 minutes. My mom would make my brother and me an after-school snack, and in front of the television we’d sit.

We would immerse ourselves into the imaginary world of epic battles between the Joes and the forces of evil led by the diabolical Cobra Commander.

There was one thing you could count on every day. In the middle of all the action there would be an inevitable break where one of the heroic Joes would appear in a neighborhood just like mine or yours, to teach an imperative object lesson.

Some kid would venture out on to a rapidly thawing frozen pond or be faced with the offer of a ride from a complete stranger, but in the nick of time Duke, Stalker, Flash, or one of the other G.I. Joes would show up out of nowhere to save the day.

The seemingly out-of-place warrior would then stand in the middle of a group of excited neighborhood kids and share a short object lesson.

I can only assume these little two-minute segments were creator Ron Friendman’s attempt at helping kids like my brother and me stay in school, away from drugs and off of partially frozen ponds.

These little object lessons always ended the same way. The Joe who saved the day would say, “Now you know” and the group of apologetic, yet totally enamored, kids would respond, “and knowing is half the battle.”

Wouldn’t it be great if life never got more complicated than things like staying off of thin ice or rushing home from the bus stop to avoid missing an episode of “G.I. Joe.”

Unfortunately, life these days is a lot more complicated than those afternoons I spent in front of our console television in the mid-1980s.

Wouldn’t it be great to have a G.I. Joe appear and tell you the right answers for life as an adult? Wouldn’t it be great to know the right answers to all of our questions and decisions?

Wouldn’t it be great to know for sure we’d done the right thing? We can’t know all these things. But there are some things in life we can know for sure.

God has promised us something in a really old book found in the “Bible”. That book was written by a crusty old fisherman named John, who came to learn a few things about living life from hanging out for a while with Jesus.

John once said that he “wrote these things that we might know.” He was referring to all of the stuff that happened while he hung out with Jesus.

The most important word he uses there is “know.” John said that God wants us to know some things for sure.

In the middle of life’s ups and downs, confusing times, seemingly impossible circumstances, and difficult decisions there are some things God wants us to “know” for sure.

Things like God loves us. God is real, God is there and that we matter to Him. Those are some pretty important things to “know” when life moves beyond the simple days of afternoon cartoons and snacks made by mom.

If your life is complicated right now, just remember that God wants you to “know” that He is real. He is there. He loves you right where you are and that you matter to Him.

The next time life gets complicated try thinking about these things we can “know.” After all as G.I. Joe would say, “knowing is half the battle.”

Jim Parker is the pastor of the new Journey Church, which will hold its first service Sunday, Sept. 12, at 10 a.m. at the Sheboygan Falls YMCA. For more information, call 920-539-5041, or visit the church’s Web site www.fallsjourneychurch.com