Iron & Altar

"Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink?" They said to him, "We can." - Matthew 20:22

James and John asked for the seats of honor. Jesus gave them a cup. James drank it first - the first apostle killed, probably around 44 AD, within fifteen years of saying yes at the water's edge. He did not know what he was agreeing to. He found out.

Most men's yes to God works the same way. You said yes to the marriage before you knew what it would ask of you. You said yes to the children before you knew what it would cost to raise them. You said yes to the faith before you understood what following it would require. The yes came first. The understanding came later, and is still coming.

Paul names what that looks like from the inside: afflicted but not constrained, perplexed but not despairing, struck down but not destroyed. He is describing what actually happened when the cup was drunk, not what he hoped would happen. The cracks in the vessel are the proof that the power holding you together is not your own.

Brother, what cup are you currently drinking that you did not fully understand when you agreed to it? Name it specifically - the specific weight in your marriage or your work or your vocation or your health. Then tell one man this week. Not to solve it, just to hold it with a witness. The cup is real. You are not drinking it alone. Text someone today.

Lord, I said yes before I understood. I am in the drinking now. Let the not-destroyed be as real as the struck-down. And let the cracks show that the power is yours and not mine. Precious Blood of Jesus, save us. Amen.