Brace Yourself

For as long as I can remember I have never had a desire to get braces. Growing up I absolutely hated going to the dentist. When I was in the first or second grade I had to get one of my two front teeth pulled and, boy, let me tell you it was not a fun experience. First of all, I was lied to when the dentist and my parents told me that I would be given a sedative to sleep during the operation. Upon arrival the day of the procedure they decided to give me laughing gas, but it was not funny and nobody was laughing. Especially not the dentist who I ended up biting not too long after. Secondly, I was told I would feel nothing, when in fact I felt everything. Sure, I wasn’t in any sort of excruciating pain but believe me when I say that the dentist felt some sort of pain.

The poor guy was having great difficulty removing my tooth. He kept tugging at it which scared me and led me to bite him! I remember him cursing and yelling as he left the room. If I remember correctly, this left my parents laughing. Well, the dentist came back in more determined and in a fit of rage I remember him just yanking my tooth out. As you can tell, this wasn’t a very pleasant experience. I remember making a promise to myself that I would never again see a dentist, and it showed. My teeth were far from being visually pleasing. There were times where I refused to brush my teeth and go to school that way. Students would make fun of me, especially the ladies. Once my grade school crush came up to me and asked why my teeth were yellow. She said teeth weren’t supposed to look that way.

Later on, peer pressure and my desire to have a girlfriend in the 4th grade got the best of me and I started to brush my teeth like crazy. However, the stains of time still remained and I was never able to make them fully go away. Something tells me that this is where I learned to develop my sense of humor since my teeth weren’t very visually pleasing, I made sure I was funny enough to keep everyone interested in being friends with me. That’s probably not entirely true though because I’m pretty sure I just got my dad’s sense of humor. Surovecs have a hard time taking anything seriously. That sense of humor served me well throughout my formidable grade school years.

It wasn’t until recently that I decided to make a trip to the dentist as a young adult. Since being a pastor my occupation has afforded me the opportunity to speak in a variety of different places and it’s not uncommon for folk to come up to me and tell me that I could benefit from getting my teeth fixed. I choose to take these as kind suggestions because I’ve heard worse growing up with three older brothers. One of my brothers had told me, “Zack, you better not smile while walking down the street, because your teeth spell westside and you might get beat up”. Having Jesus transform my life at a young age meant that I didn’t have to worry about what people thought of me anymore, but it would be nice if He transformed my teeth too.

It was my recent dental cleaning that led me to make the decision to get my wisdom teeth removed. They told me that while they may not be a problem now it could turn into a problem when I got older so this would be a preventative measure that could save me from a world of hurt in the future. Isn’t it so funny how when you’re young you only think about the present but when you get older you take into consideration your future? I took the bait and got my teeth pulled and it turned out to not be the worse thing in the world. A check-up soon after led me to decide to get my braces, and I finally did it!

Part of what set me back on the path of the straight and narrow was the realization that there are certain things in my life that I can take ownership of. The thing about all the things you and I complain about, how much of it is in or outside of our control? More often than not, I think we will find that we can take ownership of most of our circumstances. Instead of complaining about the way things are, we have to ability to make things into the way we would like them to be. Essentially, the only reason we are unhappy is that we choose to find things in our lives to be unhappy about. I’m not talking about the power of positive thinking, but I am talking about the power of possibility.

In the Bible, Paul said, “…I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.” (Philippians 4:11 NIV). Formerly I used to interpret this passage as saying that the secret to being happy is learning to be content. Essentially it’s like settling for what you have and choosing to believe this is the best it’s going to get so you better be thankful. However, this is not at all what Paul is saying. In a recent podcast interview with my friend Aaron Jewett, what I discovered is that Paul wasn’t saying that the secret to being content is settling, but that he realized in Christ Jesus he could do anything, “I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” (4:13).

What fueled Paul is the same thing that can energize you and me, which is we can do anything in Jesus, despite our circumstances. This opens us up to endless possibilities of what you and I could be accomplishing. Given everything that has happened during 2020, I would imagine that it would be difficult to apply this mentally, but once again this is more than just positive thinking. Romans 8:11 says, “The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you” (NLT). The reason we can do anything in Christ Jesus is because the power of God resides in us and if the power of God rose, past tense, Jesus from the grave physically imagine what He could accomplish through us in this world.

Brace yourself, because something better is coming.