Miracles from the Gutter, Turkey ep. 12

Every sports anime comes down to a climactic play. But in the last episode of Turkey, the final throw by bowling club captain Mai is not just about proving herself, winning a championship, or bringing the story to a satisfying conclusion. No. Instead (spoilers), Mai’s throw will determine which of her friends will live and which will die at the hands of a spiteful enemy. She’s facing snake eyes or splits—when two pins remain, standing in opposite corners—and she must knock down both pins to make a spare and save both friends. The odds are well below even a fraction of a percent, particularly since, to make matters worse, the bowling lane is outdoors and the dark night sky is unleashing a ferocious storm. Mai takes a deep breath, lines up the throw, releases, and miraculously hits the left corner pin with enough force and spin to send it flying sideways toward the second pin, where…it misses and hits the gutter. 

But this isn’t the end. You see, some miracles are only possible from the gutter. 

Life can feel like that sometimes, right? Like you’ve ended up in the gutter. Maybe landing there was a bit of a shock, like with Mai’s throw, where the pin was on track to hit the mark when, instead, it went wide. Or maybe it was more of a slow roll you could see coming, like a throw that goes bad halfway down the lane, leaving you to watch the ball careen into oblivion, helpless to correct its course. Either way, being a mere bowling ball or pin, you don’t have the strength, ability, or wherewithal to get yourself back in the lane. 

Now, this being a Christian blog, you might expect me to interrupt this rather hopeless story with the miraculous interference of grace, and speak of the God who reaches down and pulls us out of such a predicament. And that’s absolutely true! He does. Especially when we’re talking about the gutter of sin and separation from God. But you know what? The gutter isn’t always representative of our lostness. Life still has gutters, even when we’re walking with God. I’m talking about the kinds of experiences we might call the valley of the shadow of death, the dark night of the soul, or more simply, the difficult way that leads to life, as Jesus himself phrased it. Sometimes, we end up in there by our own hand, as we stumble back into old sin habits; sometimes, it’s at the hand of someone else, as a consequence of someone else’s sin or the schemes of the enemy; and sometimes, it’s just plain old life that jettisons us into suffering and hardship, as Jesus warned us it would.

In all these scenarios, the gutter can feel like a punishment or even persecution; something to be escaped or rescued from as quickly as possible so that we can get back to the “right” path. So we put our heads down—whether in repentance or determination—and we press on. After all, as the quote often attributed to Winston Churchill says, “When you’re going through hell, keep going!” This is sound, biblical advice. But sometimes, in our haste to power through, we can miss the treasure that lies hidden in the valley.

You see, not all gutters are merely obstacles; many are opportunities, too. In fact, it could be that all of them are, since even the most malicious persecutions of the enemy and egregious sins of humanity can be redeemed by God and redirected to reveal his nature and accomplish his purposes. In this, gutters are like the wildernesses in scripture: Places that are admittedly bleak, lonely, and lacking in comfort, but which are also crucibles of encounter with God. Because of the difficult terrain and discomfort, we can often view such wildernesses as punitive tests of faith that require us to prove ourselves through repentance or perseverance. Yet, in scripture, although there can often be an element of this, the wilderness is primarily a place where it is God who proves himself to his people, to us, revealing depths of mercy, provision, wisdom, intimacy, and healing in his nature hitherto unseen. There are chambers of God’s heart we only experience in the valley of the shadow of death, and planes of his face only visible from the gutter. 

But there’s more: Wildernesses are also places of calling and commissioning. It happens over and over again in scripture: for Abraham, Sarah, Jacob, Moses, all of Israel, David, all the prophets, and, pivotally, for Jesus himself. Far from being a place of lostness, then, the wilderness is a place of found-ness, where we are both found by God, and find him, in turn. Instead of representing defeat or despair, the wilderness is an integral waypoint where God resets and reorients us along the way of life; and it can even become—as it did for so many in scripture—the setup for a miracle as yet undreamed of.

This is what the gutter is for Mai. When her flying pin misses the mark, it is the gutter that resets the pin’s trajectory, correcting its course and setting it up for the win. It is only from the gutter that the pin is able to accomplish the miracle that Mai and her friends need so desperately. The gutter becomes, unexpectedly and gloriously, a step on the way to victory.

This is true for us, too. But there’s something more available to us that Mai doesn’t have. And that is the opportunity not only to receive miraculously from God, but also to give in return! Track with me on this for a moment.

We know that there will be no gutters in Heaven; no more valleys, shadows, or death; no dark nights of the soul, and no more need to persevere along the difficult way of life for the sake of the joy set before us. Rather scandalously, there will even be no more need for hope! Because one day, we will live in the fulfillment of the promise that we only get a glimpse of right now. That’s definitely something to look forward to! But what we often miss is that this also means that certain opportunities are only available for us here and now—namely, to offer sacrifices of praise and trust amid the struggle. There are depths of worship we can offer, thanksgiving we can make, faith we can walk in, and yes, precious tears of surrender we may shed, only from the gutter. We’ll never get the chance again, throughout all eternity. 

This doesn’t mean that we seek out the gutter—heaven forbid! (To paraphrase Paul.) Instead, like Mai, we breathe deeply, line up our shot, and bowl our best, no matter the circumstances. But when the ball or the pin ends up where we did not intend, we do not lose heart. Instead, we look for what new facet God is revealing of himself, listening for the call and commission; we receive the reset, reorienting in expectation; and all the while, we offer a sacrifice of praise so unique that not even the angels can replicate it. 

Yes indeed, there are miracles to be found in the gutter!

claire
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