If you’re familiar with the drinking scene whatsoever, you understand the stigma of red solo cups. You also probably know that a chaser is that after-shot of something less strong, even a food sometimes, after the starter shot of something with a pretty high alcohol content. Chasers can lessen the burn, add to the drink’s initial taste to improve the full flavor, or just replace the taste of something less pleasing with something tasty or even sweet. Sometimes, chasers are the only thing that makes the shot bearable, and has to be downed immediately afterward… or maybe that was just the case for me…
I used to drink more, and more often, than I do now. I occasionally enjoy wine, a jack & root beer with the guys during a game night, deceivingly delicious “apple pie,” or sipping on a small mug of Bailey’s with my dad on cold winter nights when the fam is all hanging out and talking at his table. I probably drink alcohol 10 or so times a year at most, but it’s not an intentional avoidance; it’s just not my hobby or anything. I have never had an issue with folks who choose to drink around me, and, truthfully, some of them are even more enjoyable company when they’ve got one or two in ‘em. Haha. (For the record, I think getting drunk is not okay and is usually driven by a deeper issue. And alcoholism is one of the worst and saddest stealers of joy, purpose, and relationship. I know what it’s like to have lived with someone at one point in my life who turned to alcohol for relief or answers and the results were abusive, devastating, and very sad.)
Anyway, back to chasers. After a burning drink, a chaser soothes the throat or even makes the initial drink enjoyable. There have to be thousands of different chasers, I would imagine. Some work best after certain drinks or are paired up specifically with a particular shot to create an infamous duo. Chasers provide relief, lessen pain, add to the experience, all that jazz. And the best chaser of all is Jesus. Go ahead, roll your eyes, but hear me out.
After life throws us hardship, pain, or sorrow, we have Someone waiting right there to serve as the ultimate Chaser. To follow it up with relief, comfort, perhaps even causing it to seem beautiful in retrospect as He creates something good out of something that, by itself, just burned. Jesus is the sweetest chaser. He obliterates all the discomfort, even in the times when we caused our own pain, and steps in to love us and alleviate any shame, guilt, sadness, or hurt.
The term ‘sweetest chaser’ is twofold. Jesus is the sweetest chaser in the aforementioned respect, but He is also literally chasing after us! We chase after so many things in this world – it’s like we’re running toward a million different things which we will never fully capture. When we do catch one, another few seem to pop right up and it is an endless pursuit after nothing of true meaning. But if we stop for a second and take the time to realize what we’re doing, we may just allow the Lord to catch up to us. He is right there, right behind us, all the time, if we would just slow down, recognize it, and let Him take the lead. Acts 17:27 tells us that He is not far from any one of us. But we unfortunately have our eyes on other things. How crazy that Jesus is the One chasing us when we should be the ones chasing Him! He’s just mind-blowingly selfless and loving like that.
In Psalm 23, David writes one of the most comforting passages in scripture: “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for His name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely Your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
Jesus says in John 16:22 “Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.” Sounds like the perfect chaser to me.
Psalm 121:1-2, HLC
sacred strokes 