Thursday, March 30 Save me!

Asking the Questions
What is Salvation?

Whenever I hear “Jesus Saves” I think of a cartoon I saw in college pitting Satan against Jesus in a writing competition. As the time arrives for them to turn them in, a lightning bolt makes the power blink. Satan tries to make excuses about losing his story while Jesus walks forward with his in hand. An angry Satan asks how he finished and Jesus turns to him, asking “Haven’t you heard? Jesus saves.”

If you’ve ever had a document disappear before saving it, you’ve lived a brief hell. The more I think about it, my current understanding of salvation is very similar to that image.

The Creator gives us life in blank pages. We begin writing by imitating other writers, and as we begin writing in our own style we realize we need to save before we experience that brief hell of losing our stories. If we’re wise, we look back over our work for mistakes, measuring by standards passed down to us and against other writers who inspire us, editing and learning as we go. Sometimes slowly, and hopefully before we write in too many antagonists, we realize that love is the plot device giving meaning to our stories.

When our own lightning bolt moment stops our writing, Jesus accepts our stories unconditionally. We don’t even have to worry about the ending—Jesus adds the “Happily Ever After,” and (plot twist!) we find out he’s been auto-saving all along and underscoring all the times love shows up. However our stories begin and whatever conflict we encounter along the way, God catalogues us all as “masterpiece.”

Susie Olive-Allison is a Clinical Therapist at Children's Treehouse, a program of Twin Cedars Youth

and Family Services where she provides trauma-focused counseling to children and youth. She and her family have attended St. Thomas since 2015. Susie enjoys serving as a LEM and Lector, and volunteering with youth at St. Thomas. She can usually be found wrangling some of her children who range in age from 2 to 10. She enjoys telling stories and making art in her limited free time.