Excpectations Gap

I expected to post this sooner. But then again I expected the weatherman to be wrong…or right…which he was I guess neither and both.  Before my son is slated to head off to his second semester of college tomorrow and we decided to have one last hurrah ice fishing up north.  Additionally, I expected the fishing to be decent, with crappies practically jumping out of my hole and into my bucket.

Truth be told my expectations were left unachieved.  The bite was slow and the snow forecast was not as proclaimed.  After not catching a limit of crappies, we loaded up our equipment and pointed the truck toward home. 

We encountered more snow than expected…earlier than expected…and more traffic than expected.  It was an absolute mess! What could potentially take an hour and 15 minutes, our manic drive home took nearly 3 hours. 

To top it off, I expected my truck heater to keep the windshield clear of ice and water.  No such luck. 

Life is full of expectations that are not fulfilled in the way that we anticipated.  Whether it be marriage, parenting, Vikings games or weather forecasts…our expectations are rarely fulfilled as we…well…expect.

We find that expectations of Jesus are often different from the reality that we experience.  As we know, God’s ways are not our ways.  In Matthew 11:1-19, we find that Jesus confronts this “expectations gap.”  People had expectations of who Jesus was and what he came to do, including John the Baptist. 

May we come to see the reality of who Jesus really is…not who we “want” him to be…but who he really is!