Grace Across Borders: Biblical Lessons and Global Legends

The Helplessness of Love

“Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.”
Galatians 6:2 (KJV)

First, let me begin with another heartfelt apology for my blog being late. Thank you for your patience, your prayers, and the grace you continue to extend to me. This week I am away attending our church’s annual conference, and while the days have been filled with worship, fellowship, and ministry, my heart has been somewhere else.

My thoughts have been on my son, DJ.

Like many young adults, he is navigating a season of life that every parent eventually has to watch from the sidelines. There comes a point when our children no longer come running to us with scraped knees asking us to kiss their boo-boos. Instead, they face challenges we cannot fix, decisions we cannot make for them, and battles we cannot fight on their behalf.

Yesterday, I watched a teenager walk up to her father and say, “Daddy, I have a boo-boo. Will you kiss it?” I smiled. I couldn’t tell whether she was teasing or completely serious, but it reminded me that sometimes we are not looking for someone to fix the pain. We simply want to know someone cares enough to walk through it with us.

DJ was never that child.

One of my favorite memories still makes me laugh. He wasn’t even two years old when I finished giving him a bath and reached for the baby powder. He quickly backed away, covered himself with his little hands, and, repeating the words of a popular Jamaican song, declared, “Mommy, dem a go seh yuh powder man!” From that day forward, getting powder anywhere near him became almost impossible.

Even then, he had already decided who he was.

Looking back, I realize it wasn’t simply independence. Even as a little boy, there was something in him that wanted to stand strong, to protect, and to carry himself a certain way. As the years passed, that same heart grew into a young man who often tries to carry more than he should, including concern for the people he loves.

As parents, we eventually learn that some of our children’s battles cannot be fought with our hands.

They must be fought on our knees.

Earlier this week, during a quiet moment with the Lord, I experienced something I still cannot fully explain. I don’t know whether it was a dream or a vision while I was awake, but I remember hearing the question,

“Do you want to know if it’s a boy or a girl?”

Without hesitation, I answered,

“I just want the baby to be healthy.”

As those words returned to me throughout the week, I realized they had become the cry of my own heart.

“Lord, I just want my son to be whole.”

Everything else is in Your hands.

Scripture

Moses Learns He Was Never Meant to Carry It Alone (Exodus 18)

After leading Israel out of Egypt, Moses spent his days carrying the burdens of an entire nation. From morning until evening, the people came to him with every disagreement, every complaint, and every difficult decision. He loved God’s people, so he carried everything he could.

Jethro watched and lovingly asked, “Why are you doing this all by yourself?”

He reminded Moses that God never intended for one person to carry every burden alone. God had already prepared others to help shoulder the load.

Moses wasn’t failing.

He simply needed to trust that God could work through other people.

Sometimes God’s answer isn’t to remove the burden.

Sometimes His answer is to send helpers.

Folklore

The Old Woman and the Pumpkin Vine

One of the beloved Caribbean folk tales tells of an elderly woman facing a long and difficult journey home. The road is hard, and she cannot make it by her own strength. Along the way, unexpected help appears. What seemed impossible becomes possible because others step in with kindness and compassion.

The story reminds us that no one is meant to travel life’s hardest roads alone. Help sometimes comes from family. Sometimes it comes from strangers. Yet those unexpected helpers often become the very answer we didn’t know we had prayed for.

Like Moses, the old woman discovers that burdens become lighter when others are willing to help carry them.

Reflection

Later that day, members of our church family who had arrived late for the conference realized they had missed lunch and were still hours away from dinner. We made a trip to Walmart so they could buy food, bottled water, and the supplies they would need for the rest of the week.

By the time we returned, everyone had bags in their hands. They were tired, hungry, and faced a long uphill walk to the dorms.

Before anyone asked, four young men from another conference group simply walked over.

“Let me help you.”

They picked up bags, asked where we were staying, and walked beside us without hesitation.

As I watched them, I couldn’t help but smile.

Not because our bags were lighter, but because somewhere there were parents who had raised young men to notice people, to serve without being asked, and to help without expecting anything in return.

Later that evening, I was driving one of the campus golf carts, taking people across campus. It had grown dark, and many of the dorms were a considerable distance away.

On my way back, I noticed two young men walking.

“Would you like a ride?” I asked.

They gladly climbed aboard.

The farther we drove, the farther I realized they needed to go. I could have stopped halfway and said, “This is as far as I can take you.”

Instead, I drove them all the way.

When we arrived, one of the young men thanked me over and over again. He asked my name, looked me in the eye, and expressed such genuine gratitude that it touched my heart.

I smiled and simply said, “God bless you, young man.”

As I drove away, the Lord gently connected everything that had been on my heart.

The four young men who carried our bags were not the same two young men I later gave a ride.

Yet through all six of them, God was speaking.

He reminded me that He is still raising young people with compassionate hearts.

He is still placing helpers exactly where they are needed.

And if He could place these young men in our path at just the right moment, then surely He is able to place the right people in my son’s life when I cannot be there.

Then another thought settled into my heart.

Even Jesus accepted help carrying His cross.

If the Savior of the world was willing to receive help when the burden became too heavy, then surely we don’t have to carry every burden by ourselves either.

In that moment, I realized God wasn’t simply showing me kindness.

He was reminding me that love sometimes feels helpless—but faith never is.

A Letter to My Son

My son, if you ever read these words, I need you to know something.

One of the hardest parts of watching you walk through this season is seeing you worry about me while you’re carrying your own burdens.

That has never been your job.

It has always been mine.

God entrusted you to me—not so you could carry my worries, but so I could help carry yours.

Your strength has always been one of the things I admire most about you.

But strength doesn’t mean carrying every burden alone.

I don’t need you to have all the answers.

I don’t need you to have everything figured out.

I don’t need you to shoulder every burden by yourself.

I am simply grateful that God has spared your life.

Everything else can be worked out.

Everything else can be healed.

Everything else can be redeemed by the God who loves you even more than I do.

Sometimes I wish I could let you see your life through my eyes for just a moment.

Better yet, I wish you could see it through God’s eyes.

If you could glimpse the future He is preparing for you, the purpose He has placed inside you, and the plans He has already written for your life, I believe today’s burdens would not have the final say over your heart. What feels overwhelming today is not greater than the God who walks beside you.

If I could carry this burden for you, I would.

Since I can’t, I’ll do the next best thing.

I’ll carry you to the One who can.

Perhaps that is the helplessness of love.

Not loving someone too little to help, but loving them so much that the only place left to carry them is into the presence of God.

Prayer

Heavenly Father,

Thank You for loving our children even more than we do. Thank You for every person You place along our path to encourage us, strengthen us, and remind us that we are never alone.

For every parent watching a son or daughter navigate life’s challenges, grant us the courage to trust You with what we cannot control. Help us release our fears into Your hands while never ceasing to pray.

Raise up young men and women who notice people, who serve with humility, and who become answers to someone else’s prayer.

And when we experience the helplessness of love, remind us that nothing is ever helpless in the hands of an all-powerful God.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen.