The Bowling Parable
[Text Version]
BOWLING PARABLE – AIM AND KEEP STANDING
Today we went bowling and I was able to return to bowling after a very long time. I was thrilled to be able to bowl 3 whole games without stopping. It was my first time. On my best days I was able to bowl 2 games at the most.
On the 3rd game I was on the 10th frame, just as I was letting go of the ball I heard the Lord say, “Keep it up!”
I wondered what He meant. On the 10th frame you get 2 more tries, so I did it again. A second strike. I was really excited!!!! Then a third strike. I was ecstatic.!!!!!!!
It was my first turkey in my history of bowling. A turkey is when you bowl 3 strikes in a row, and the bowling screen flashes a picture of a turkey with 3 X’s across it. Then I realized that the Lord had helped me do this, and THIS was what He meant when He said, “Keep it up!!” He was encouraging me to follow through and keep going. I thought of the time when I saw the tiny little girl bowling.
At the time my son was on a bowling league where the sizes of the children ranged from about 3½ feet to 6 feet tall. I watched the tiniest kids walk out to the line, bend over and yank that ball all the way down the alley. They stood watching their ball go about zero miles per hour all the way down, an inch at a time. When the ball finally hit the pins, the pins fell in slow motion too. One at a time, they would fall, usually like dominoes in slow motion.
There was one particular tiny girl who after rolling her ball, stood with her right arm in the air, straight up to heaven, while she watched the ball go down the alley. That arm didn’t budge until the last pin was down! I saw her do that week after week. It was so precious. Every time I saw her it was pure delight. She was so short and tiny!!!!
I marveled at the parable that it doesn’t matter how powerful, how fast, or how fantastic our performance is, the only thing that matters is that as we are trusting the Lord for His help, we point our little will in the right direction and the remain standing until we see the results.
