"I'll be back."

That's what "Ah-nuld" promised. Action-hero Arnold Schwarzenegger said these words to a desk clerk in the very first Terminator movie back in 1984. True to his word, he returned in 1991's Terminator 2: Judgment Day. And now, this coming summer, he'll be back again in T3: Rise of the Machines.

In case you've lost track of the storyline, Arnold started off as a Bad Terminator -- a killer robot sent from the future to the year 1984 to terminate the mother of a boy who was destined to be the savior of the world. Arnold fails, the mother lives, and then in 1991 he returns -- this time as a Good Terminator, assigned to protect the savior-child. Not surprisingly, the boy survives and grows up, bringing us to T3: Rise of the Machines. Whether Arnold will remain on the side of the good humans is open to debate -- it's rumored that his character switches sides in the film, as computers take over control of his circuitry. (Greg's Preview, Yahoo! Movies, http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hp&cf=prev&id=1808406214, Retrieved January 6, 2003)

The only sure bet is that "he'll be back" -- in Terminator 4!

According to today's lesson from Second Corinthians, the apostle Paul felt like anything BUT a Terminator. He was given a chance to enjoy an amazing vision of Paradise, but then to keep him from being too elated he was given " a thorn" in the flesh (v. 7). Fearing that this thorn might terminate him, he prayed that the Lord would remove it, but then a message came down from on high: "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness" (v. 9).

Now we don't know what Paul's thorn was. It could have been bad eyesight, malaria, hysteria, depression, leprosy, or epilepsy. We just don't know. The important thing is that Paul came to accept the thorn, and then even boast about it, so that the power of Christ would dwell in him. "I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ," he insists, "for whenever I am weak, then I am strong" (v. 10).

Whenever I am weak, I am strong. That's not your standard Terminator talk. In the movie T3, weakness leads quickly to defeat, while victory belongs only to the strongest and the smartest of the humans and machines. So often it seems as though we live in a T3 world as well, where the battle is won by the biggest guns and the smartest bombs.

But Paul terminates this particular approach to life, and replaces it with a whole new attitude. Whenever I am weak, he says, then I am strong. Whenever he is weak, then he remembers that the greatest of all powers belong to the Lord, not to human beings. The power to heal, the power to forgive, the power to renew, the power to inspire, the power to create, the power to love -- all of these things come from the Lord God. They don't come from humans, and they certainly don't come from machines.

Maybe the title T3 has nothing to do with Terminators at all. Perhaps it should point us instead to the God who is a Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

This T3 is equipped with the power we need.

If we put our trust in the Trinity, we'll find God's power flowing through us. This energy, however, is not like the power you get from Virginia Power, which gets turned on with the flip of a switch and flows into your high-tech gadgets with uniform voltage. And it's not like the power that animates the T-800, the T-1000, the T-X, or any of the other advanced androids that do such deeds of destruction in the Terminator trilogy.

Instead, the power of God is more like love: An energy which grows over time, and requires acceptance and trust if it is going to be a force in your life.

The power of God the Trinity is usually encountered first through a relationship. It might be with a parent, with a church member, or with a trusted friend. Jesus knew this, which is why he sent his disciples out two-by-two, to stay in people's home and develop personal relationships with them (Mark 6:7-13). Our challenge as Christians is always to share this power in our relationships, by performing acts of Christian mission with our children, teaching a Christian Education class, or inviting a friend to a service of worship. This kind of sharing in relationship is going to be critical to our success as a church in the year to come.

God's power also requires belief. It relies on trust that the Triune God is always going to be with us, in times of illness and failure, as well as periods of health and success. "My grace is sufficient for you," said the Lord to Paul, when the apostle complained of his thorn in the flesh. God's grace, which is nothing less that God's gift of himself, is always SUFFICIENT -- it is enough to see us through. If we lean on God, put stock in God, and really rely on God in times of weakness, suffering, and loss, then we are going to discover that there is truly nothing in all creation that can destroy us.

Not even the most terrible of the Terminators.

The apostle Paul was feeling weak and overwhelmed, and he begged his Savior to give him a break. But the Lord said, "No, I'm not going to remove your thorn in the flesh ... I'm not going to give you a Hollywood ending ... I'm not going to come down and rescue you like Arnold the Good Terminator." God chose to give Paul victory not by taking him OUT of his troubles, but by giving him power IN his troubles.

That's the grace that is always sufficient. That's the power that is made perfect in weakness. That's the way that God comes into our lives as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Call it T3 living. Amen.

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