Last Night: Trust Me

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me."  John 14:1

“Trust is like a mirror, you can fix it if it's broken, but you can still see the crack in that ############'s reflection.” Lady Gaga

Trust is built slowly, like a child's Lego castle, brick by brick.

My two oldest boys used to love to spend hours building a town out of Lego bricks and arranging their Matchbox and Hot Wheels cares around them, just so. They would concoct a scenario, a story about the buildings and the vehicles as they worked.

Their younger brother's favorite activity was to show up when the construction project was halfway done and play Godzilla to their Tokyo, knocking over the buildings, stomping the bricks apart, scattering the cars, all in a matter of moments.

Trust is built slowly, but it only takes a moment to tear it down.

When the oldest of those three boys was born, he was remanded to the custody of the state and placed into a foster care home.  Our home. We raised him as our own, building a life as a foster family, with him as an integral part. He loved us as his parents, counted on us to be there for him, learned to trust us.

A few days before his first birthday, a social worker came to our house and loaded him into her car, like she had several times for visits with his biological grandparents. Except this time she didn't bring him back.

It was hard on us, even though we had known from the beginning that foster parenting equals temporary parenting. For a one-year-old, there was no understanding.

In spite of every reasonable expectation, God put the bricks back together and made it possible for us to be able to be a part of his life as he grew up. But one thing became clear.

The young boy found it very hard to believe that anyone would keep promises they made to him. It didn't matter if it was a big promise, like "I'll always be there for you," or a small promise, like "we'll stop at McDonalds later."

It's been a slow process, but he learned to trust again. I think - I hope - he's finally gotten beyond always seeing that crack in the reflection.


On Jesus' last night with his friends, he asks them to trust him.

They probably thought it unnecessary for him to even say such a thing. They'd learned to trust him through three years of travels and controversy and wonders. Of course they trusted him.

This time, though, would be different. Within hours he would willingly surrender himself to the authorities. By the next day he would be dead, and they were left looking at the scattered pieces of the story they had been building together.

And then he returned, the author and finisher of their trust.


It can be hard to trust Jesus when he doesn't give us what we ask for in our prayers. It can be hard to trust him when the church fails us or when our own fears overwhelm us.

Sometimes the greatest trust comes when our hopes have been crushed and then God helps us put everything back together.

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me."  John 14:1