For the majority of the last 5 years my desire has been to become a great leader. I have read numerous books, been to leadership conferences, read blogs, sat under and learned from some great leaders, prayed and have spent countless hours in a classroom learning what it means to lead. The problem is, who gets to decide who is a great leader and who is not? What is the measuring stick? Is it based on how many followers you have? Is it based on what your followers know? Or what they do? Is the thing that determines if you are a great leader how many leaders you are able to reproduce? Or is it the rate at which you reproduce them? And how do you know when you start out in a leadership position, like I am, whether or not you are doing it right? If results don’t always come in the first 5 years then is it possible that I will have to wait 5 years only to find out that I have failed continuously at what I thought was the right thing? Or is it possible that I misread my calling and wasted the last years of my life?
What I neglected to see is that I was not called to lead. I am called to follow. Every invitation Jesus extended was a call to follow him. He said that he would make his followers fishers of men, but he didn’t say that they would be leaders. He certainly didn’t promise that anyone would like them. When he would ask if someone would like to follow him and they would always respond by leaving whatever they were doing, which was usually what they did for a living, and went with him. There was something about the person of Jesus that created such a sense of life. People wanted to know him and be near him. They wanted to learn from him and hear what he had to say. Sometimes I lose sight of the fact that Jesus is so much more than I make him out to be. There is a wonder about him. Something mysterious that always had people asking questions, yet something refreshing that drew weary people to sit with him and soak up his love. Near Jesus the proud had no place to accuse others and the weak had no place to accuse themselves, and often you would find a little child in his arms. And our call was not to go ahead of him, but simply to sit with him and be in his presence. It was a call to follow.
I know what you might be thinking… What about the great commission? Even the great commission wasn’t a calling to go out and lead. It was a call to bear witness to what we have seen and heard. The disciples could only bear witness to what they saw and they heard. They never tried to go beyond that. All they would say over and over is we cannot stop talking about what we have seen and heard. And I wonder how much different my life would be if all I did was testify to what I have seen and heard? All the pressure of comparison is off at that point. All the pressures of leadership vanish. I’m not looking for approval… I’m just trying to tell you what I have seen and heard and what I believe I am supposed to do with that. My responsibility is to follow Jesus and if you would like to follow him with me I would love to be there to encourage you on that journey, wherever it might go.
I am a follower.
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Thursday, September 5, 2013
A Mossy Creek - Part II
So what is the most important thing if it isn’t serving others and it isn’t learning more and more? These things are really important things, don’t get me wrong, but they are not ultimate things. When you look at the way Jesus interacted with the world you don’t actually get the picture that these things were the most important. He would often leave and find a secluded place when the crowds were pressuring him to do something. Did he have this tendency because he was introverted by nature or was it because he knew that there was something more important than being around crowds of people 24 hours per day?
I’m going to opt for the latter.
Mark starts out his Gospel by telling of how Jesus would get up early before the sun was up and he would find a spot where he could be with the Father. Jesus held on tightly to his relationship with his Father; so much to the point that when there were crowds of people who wanted to talk with him he would wake up before the light and find a place where he could be alone with the Father. There were times when others would ask him why he would do something and his response was simply, “I only do what I see my Father doing.” His identity in who he was as a son of the Father was so grounded that it drove everything he did. While he healed many people from illnesses and ailments that wasn’t the most important thing to him or else he would have just sat still and allowed people to bring the ill to him for 3 years. Jesus spent some time learning as well. Luke tells us that he grew in wisdom and in favor with the people. But being a learner was not what drove Jesus forward, nor was being a servant of people.
It appears that the most important thing to Jesus was to be a faithful son. And that was exactly what he was. He was faithful to the end, completing all the work the Father had set out for him to do while never losing his identity as a son of the most high King.
Imagine if the primary person you and I operated out of was that of the son or daughter of the King? What I mean by that is: instead of the thing that defines us being our job, a parent, a child, a student, an athlete, a computer guy, or “that girl” or “that guy”, rather the thing that defines us is the fact that we know and are known by the King and that we call Him ‘daddy’. This would greatly change the way we go about our business. Our prayers would sound less like rambling chants or spells and more like a conversation between a child and a concerned Father. When you tell someone that you will pray for them it would be more like the privileged son of a CEO telling a distressed employee of the company that he will talk to his father on their behalf, because he can go straight to the one person who can fix the problem in seconds. When we show up to a widow’s house to do some work it is not just a “charitable act” rather we are there on behalf of the Father because He wants them to know that they are just as valuable to him as anyone else in His family, so if they have needs then the needs will be met.
Imagine what all would change. There are many implications of thinking in such a way, and I’m sure that you have thought of some that I haven’t. But Paul makes it clear multiple times that we have been given a Spirit that calls out to Him “Daddy, Father”. So let us talk to God, not as if He is a distant concept to believe in, but a Father who loves you and wants to know you and what your fears are, what your joys are, and what you are looking forward to in the next week, month, or year.
I’m going to opt for the latter.
Mark starts out his Gospel by telling of how Jesus would get up early before the sun was up and he would find a spot where he could be with the Father. Jesus held on tightly to his relationship with his Father; so much to the point that when there were crowds of people who wanted to talk with him he would wake up before the light and find a place where he could be alone with the Father. There were times when others would ask him why he would do something and his response was simply, “I only do what I see my Father doing.” His identity in who he was as a son of the Father was so grounded that it drove everything he did. While he healed many people from illnesses and ailments that wasn’t the most important thing to him or else he would have just sat still and allowed people to bring the ill to him for 3 years. Jesus spent some time learning as well. Luke tells us that he grew in wisdom and in favor with the people. But being a learner was not what drove Jesus forward, nor was being a servant of people.
It appears that the most important thing to Jesus was to be a faithful son. And that was exactly what he was. He was faithful to the end, completing all the work the Father had set out for him to do while never losing his identity as a son of the most high King.
Imagine if the primary person you and I operated out of was that of the son or daughter of the King? What I mean by that is: instead of the thing that defines us being our job, a parent, a child, a student, an athlete, a computer guy, or “that girl” or “that guy”, rather the thing that defines us is the fact that we know and are known by the King and that we call Him ‘daddy’. This would greatly change the way we go about our business. Our prayers would sound less like rambling chants or spells and more like a conversation between a child and a concerned Father. When you tell someone that you will pray for them it would be more like the privileged son of a CEO telling a distressed employee of the company that he will talk to his father on their behalf, because he can go straight to the one person who can fix the problem in seconds. When we show up to a widow’s house to do some work it is not just a “charitable act” rather we are there on behalf of the Father because He wants them to know that they are just as valuable to him as anyone else in His family, so if they have needs then the needs will be met.
Imagine what all would change. There are many implications of thinking in such a way, and I’m sure that you have thought of some that I haven’t. But Paul makes it clear multiple times that we have been given a Spirit that calls out to Him “Daddy, Father”. So let us talk to God, not as if He is a distant concept to believe in, but a Father who loves you and wants to know you and what your fears are, what your joys are, and what you are looking forward to in the next week, month, or year.
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
A Mossy Creek - Part I
What if there was one thing that you were supposed to understand above all else and if you got that one thing right then all other aspects of life would simply fall into place? For several years now I have been trying to figure out what that one thing is and I have a feeling I am not the only one. My thought was, if there is one thing I am supposed to do then I will do it and that will be all I need. But what I found was that I did not need another thing to do, rather I needed to understand who I was supposed to be. This was a hard transition and one that is still in the works, but I would like to share a little bit of that journey with you. If you understand who you are supposed to be then your life will radically change, of that I am quite certain.
I was challenged with this idea several years ago by a pastor in Atlanta. He was preaching around New Years and talking about how everyone always sets out to make New Year’s Resolutions on what they want to do for that year, but rarely do people just sit down and think about who they want to be. The point he was making was that when people become really successful at doing something without being someone they end up sacrificing their character in the name of success.
So I set out to figure out who I am supposed to be and I did what I felt like I should do as a responsible Bible College student: I searched through Scripture. There were two sections of scripture that really shaped who I became over that next year or so: Philippians 2 and John 13. Philippians talks about how in our relationships with others we must have the same attitude as Christ who humbled himself and became a servant to all. Then John 13 is a picture of just that. It is where Jesus understands that he has all this authority given to him by the Father and his response to knowing this is that sheds his outer clothing and gets on his knees and washes the feet of everyone in the room, including the guy who he knew was going to betray him. So, I decided that the person I was going to be was a servant, because we are called to imitate Jesus and Jesus was a servant.
Something about this was difficult for me, but I continued to do it, not entirely sure what I was doing other than showing love to people in the way Jesus showed love to people. But I felt like something was missing or that there was more to it. So I began to study more and learn about different learning styles, study approaches, and the importance of growing in knowledge. The thinking there was that God created the world and everything in it, so if I learn more about the world then I will in turn learn more about the one who created the world. So I set out on a quest (of sorts) for knowledge. And I greatly enjoyed this. I told my friends on multiple occasions that I have such a great job, because I get to sit in an office and learn constantly. One of the most exciting days in my first summer at CrossView was when my friend Kevan taught me about the “memory palace,” this was a concept that allowed me to be able to remember large lists of things and blow the minds of many. It was a very fun time and I learned a lot in this stage… But this only carried me so far. There is more to life than being a good student.
Just to be clear, I am not saying in that being a servant is not something I am willing to be and I am not saying that being a student is not something I am willing to be. Nor am I saying that it is something that we should all give up. All I am saying is that it is so vitally important to get the main thing correct and despite what I have been taught in various settings I have come to a place where I don’t believe that the most important thing is to serve nor is it to study hard, though these things are typically elevated to such a status. I am saying that there is something more important than both of these things along with others that have been elevated to such a place of radical importance. But for the sake of time, because I believe the most important thing deserves a little more than a paragraph, I will save that for another post. So please hear me out in my next post before you pick up your stones or deem me a heretic.
I was challenged with this idea several years ago by a pastor in Atlanta. He was preaching around New Years and talking about how everyone always sets out to make New Year’s Resolutions on what they want to do for that year, but rarely do people just sit down and think about who they want to be. The point he was making was that when people become really successful at doing something without being someone they end up sacrificing their character in the name of success.
So I set out to figure out who I am supposed to be and I did what I felt like I should do as a responsible Bible College student: I searched through Scripture. There were two sections of scripture that really shaped who I became over that next year or so: Philippians 2 and John 13. Philippians talks about how in our relationships with others we must have the same attitude as Christ who humbled himself and became a servant to all. Then John 13 is a picture of just that. It is where Jesus understands that he has all this authority given to him by the Father and his response to knowing this is that sheds his outer clothing and gets on his knees and washes the feet of everyone in the room, including the guy who he knew was going to betray him. So, I decided that the person I was going to be was a servant, because we are called to imitate Jesus and Jesus was a servant.
Something about this was difficult for me, but I continued to do it, not entirely sure what I was doing other than showing love to people in the way Jesus showed love to people. But I felt like something was missing or that there was more to it. So I began to study more and learn about different learning styles, study approaches, and the importance of growing in knowledge. The thinking there was that God created the world and everything in it, so if I learn more about the world then I will in turn learn more about the one who created the world. So I set out on a quest (of sorts) for knowledge. And I greatly enjoyed this. I told my friends on multiple occasions that I have such a great job, because I get to sit in an office and learn constantly. One of the most exciting days in my first summer at CrossView was when my friend Kevan taught me about the “memory palace,” this was a concept that allowed me to be able to remember large lists of things and blow the minds of many. It was a very fun time and I learned a lot in this stage… But this only carried me so far. There is more to life than being a good student.
Just to be clear, I am not saying in that being a servant is not something I am willing to be and I am not saying that being a student is not something I am willing to be. Nor am I saying that it is something that we should all give up. All I am saying is that it is so vitally important to get the main thing correct and despite what I have been taught in various settings I have come to a place where I don’t believe that the most important thing is to serve nor is it to study hard, though these things are typically elevated to such a status. I am saying that there is something more important than both of these things along with others that have been elevated to such a place of radical importance. But for the sake of time, because I believe the most important thing deserves a little more than a paragraph, I will save that for another post. So please hear me out in my next post before you pick up your stones or deem me a heretic.
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Do Something
Sometimes we set too low of expectations for ourselves and the people around us. If we want something to be great then it is going to take a little effort. If being great was easy and could happen with minimal effort then I would venture to say that most people would be great, as it wouldn't be much of an inconvenience to them at all. However, that is not the way greatness happens. Think of all the greats there ever were.
I think it is fitting to at least mention "The Great One" here,no, I'm not talking about Kevan Duke, but Wayne Gretzky. Wayne Gretzky didn't become great by watching TV and hoping he could be like the hockey heroes of his day, he actually got out and work on his skills. He practiced and did a little more than put forth an effort to become one of the greatest hockey players of his time.
Michael Jordan was another example of someone who desired to be great and did what it takes. But there are other people besides athletes who want to be great. Steve Jobs was one of the three guys who made Pixar animation the success that it is today, but it came at a price. The ladies that would clean the office of Jobs would often report that they would come in and wake him up in the morning because he was working so late into the night that it didn't make sense to go home to go to bed when he could just sleep in the office and wake up the next day ready to work. Pixar became a great movie producing company, but it came at a price.
Those who are willing to pay the price will eventually rise to the top.
The problem is that we have created a culture where it is acceptable to expect certain things to be given to you. That you have certain "rights" if you want to create something great. Whether it is resources, advertisement, production, education, etc. there is a thinking that we are entitled to be given something to start with. What we need is a vision or a dream of what we want and the drive to push through any closed doors to get to what we want.
When I was in high school I was a part of starting up a worship band at our church. There were two guys, who at the time didn't know a ton about what it would take to start a band, but they had the drive to make it happen. They were given no resources and were offered no classes on how to get a band going. They didn't have any equipment and had minimal personnel (Just for clarity, I was not one of the two). They had little to no support from the leadership of the church (in fact, I don't actually know if the leadership knew they were creating a band). We practiced in the basement of one of their houses and we weren't allowed to practice past a certain time because the drums would keep the neighbors up. When we were finally good enough to play for an evening youth service we weren't given much more help. We had no stage, minimal cables, and little space to move around... it was awkward, but we made it work. We didn't have fancy lights, smoke machines, or cool graphics. We simply worked with what we had which wasn't very much. But we continued to expand our resources and we appreciated everything we were given.
I have come to believe that if you want something to get done then you must do something. I know that is probably one of the top 1 million most insightful things you have ever heard, however, it is a truth that we so often overlook. Great things don't happen by accident. Overnight success is just not truly a reality. One person said in reference to this: "my overnight success was 15 years in the making." It takes time, it takes effort, and it takes consistency. If you want something to be great then work at it. It is no longer okay to sit back and whine about something if you do not want to be a part of the solution. Do something.
I think it is fitting to at least mention "The Great One" here,no, I'm not talking about Kevan Duke, but Wayne Gretzky. Wayne Gretzky didn't become great by watching TV and hoping he could be like the hockey heroes of his day, he actually got out and work on his skills. He practiced and did a little more than put forth an effort to become one of the greatest hockey players of his time.
Michael Jordan was another example of someone who desired to be great and did what it takes. But there are other people besides athletes who want to be great. Steve Jobs was one of the three guys who made Pixar animation the success that it is today, but it came at a price. The ladies that would clean the office of Jobs would often report that they would come in and wake him up in the morning because he was working so late into the night that it didn't make sense to go home to go to bed when he could just sleep in the office and wake up the next day ready to work. Pixar became a great movie producing company, but it came at a price.
Those who are willing to pay the price will eventually rise to the top.
The problem is that we have created a culture where it is acceptable to expect certain things to be given to you. That you have certain "rights" if you want to create something great. Whether it is resources, advertisement, production, education, etc. there is a thinking that we are entitled to be given something to start with. What we need is a vision or a dream of what we want and the drive to push through any closed doors to get to what we want.
When I was in high school I was a part of starting up a worship band at our church. There were two guys, who at the time didn't know a ton about what it would take to start a band, but they had the drive to make it happen. They were given no resources and were offered no classes on how to get a band going. They didn't have any equipment and had minimal personnel (Just for clarity, I was not one of the two). They had little to no support from the leadership of the church (in fact, I don't actually know if the leadership knew they were creating a band). We practiced in the basement of one of their houses and we weren't allowed to practice past a certain time because the drums would keep the neighbors up. When we were finally good enough to play for an evening youth service we weren't given much more help. We had no stage, minimal cables, and little space to move around... it was awkward, but we made it work. We didn't have fancy lights, smoke machines, or cool graphics. We simply worked with what we had which wasn't very much. But we continued to expand our resources and we appreciated everything we were given.
I have come to believe that if you want something to get done then you must do something. I know that is probably one of the top 1 million most insightful things you have ever heard, however, it is a truth that we so often overlook. Great things don't happen by accident. Overnight success is just not truly a reality. One person said in reference to this: "my overnight success was 15 years in the making." It takes time, it takes effort, and it takes consistency. If you want something to be great then work at it. It is no longer okay to sit back and whine about something if you do not want to be a part of the solution. Do something.
Friday, December 21, 2012
Mayan Thoughts
I am not an expert on Mayan thought, and I have never met a true Mayan, however, I think I can say with a little bit of confidence that if the Mayans were alive today they would be pretty annoyed with Americans the past few weeks...
Let's get one thing straight off the bat: the Mayans did not predict the world ending. The Mayans had seasons of calendars and December 21, 2012 was not the day the thought things would come to a screeching halt, it was just the latest date they had marked on a calendar. While it might have marked the end of something, the world was not the something they had in mind. This is not to mention that the Mayans did not account for leap year, so the December 21 date they predicted has actually happened several months ago.
Since this calendar has been discovered there have been many predictions of what would take place on December 21 have come out. They range from the poles reversing, therefor putting an end to all electronic devices in the world (much like the television show Revolution), which would probably ruin most people's Christmas'. Some even have theories about how other governments planted these thoughts in our mind so they could have an opportunity to invade the United States of America.
With so much mystery surrounding a date, much emotion has been elevated. For those who have nothing to hope for, this evoked a feeling of fear. For some thinking America would be invaded, a level of suspicion. And some just sat back and laughed as people flooded facebook with entertaining statuses.
And we all know what ended up happening today... people woke up, went to work, there were children who missed the bus on the last day of school before Christmas break, some lost their job, some were delivered news of being hired. There were babies born, anniverseries celebrated, and movies watched. Yet for some today was the end of the world, whether it was cancer, war, accident, or murder. For someone everyday the world ends and you don't know when that will be and neither do I.
However, I do believe that there will be a day when everything will be made right again. I believe that there is a new heaven and a new earth being prepared for us. I believe that one day everything will be the way it ought to be once again. One day, there will be a world where people don't live in fear, where oppression doesn't exist and divorce is not a reality. There will be a world where no child is left or abandoned by their parents and the word orphan will not exist. There will be a day when all the confusion about who we are will be wiped away and we will walk with the one who created us. I believe that this world will be filled with sons and daughters of the most high King and we will be known as His children. He will wipe every tear out of our eye and we will be made whole again.
Just in case there is any doubt, this is what I believe. I don't need a date for this, but I will continue to pray that this day comes soon.
Let's get one thing straight off the bat: the Mayans did not predict the world ending. The Mayans had seasons of calendars and December 21, 2012 was not the day the thought things would come to a screeching halt, it was just the latest date they had marked on a calendar. While it might have marked the end of something, the world was not the something they had in mind. This is not to mention that the Mayans did not account for leap year, so the December 21 date they predicted has actually happened several months ago.
Since this calendar has been discovered there have been many predictions of what would take place on December 21 have come out. They range from the poles reversing, therefor putting an end to all electronic devices in the world (much like the television show Revolution), which would probably ruin most people's Christmas'. Some even have theories about how other governments planted these thoughts in our mind so they could have an opportunity to invade the United States of America.
With so much mystery surrounding a date, much emotion has been elevated. For those who have nothing to hope for, this evoked a feeling of fear. For some thinking America would be invaded, a level of suspicion. And some just sat back and laughed as people flooded facebook with entertaining statuses.
And we all know what ended up happening today... people woke up, went to work, there were children who missed the bus on the last day of school before Christmas break, some lost their job, some were delivered news of being hired. There were babies born, anniverseries celebrated, and movies watched. Yet for some today was the end of the world, whether it was cancer, war, accident, or murder. For someone everyday the world ends and you don't know when that will be and neither do I.
However, I do believe that there will be a day when everything will be made right again. I believe that there is a new heaven and a new earth being prepared for us. I believe that one day everything will be the way it ought to be once again. One day, there will be a world where people don't live in fear, where oppression doesn't exist and divorce is not a reality. There will be a world where no child is left or abandoned by their parents and the word orphan will not exist. There will be a day when all the confusion about who we are will be wiped away and we will walk with the one who created us. I believe that this world will be filled with sons and daughters of the most high King and we will be known as His children. He will wipe every tear out of our eye and we will be made whole again.
Just in case there is any doubt, this is what I believe. I don't need a date for this, but I will continue to pray that this day comes soon.
Monday, December 17, 2012
Birthday Thoughts
Another year has come and gone and I would classify this past year as a growing one. I have learned a lot and been loved by many people over the last year. The amount of support I have felt has been escalated and I believe now more than ever that God is working in me and through me.
I spent the weekend with some of my friends who now live in Illinois, one of whom has a birthday close to mine. The weekend was filled with lots of food and laughter, good life conversations, disc golf, a few games of around the world and some good times. I even had a dream the night of my birthday that America was invaded by another country and I was the one who saved the day for a small number of people in Waynesville! It was pretty exciting times.
Something interesting that I found I do when I go out of town is stay with a family that I enjoy being around and just mold into their life and the things they do for a few days. It is fun for me to do that for some reason. I'm not much of a go off a do your own thing kind of person, so I enjoy being with other people and attempting to make their lives easier while I am there. I enjoy learning from the real lives of people in actually situations, not just in theoretical kind of conversations. Through one of the conversations I had while playing disc golf I found that I have helped other people more than I knew over time... someone whom I thought I was just learning from. This is evidence that you really can learn something from anyone... even me! It was just a short lesson on humility and it made me wonder how many lessons I miss out on because I think that I am the one who is supposed to teach them something?
I'm not sure if most people resonate with quotes, but one that has stuck with me for a while now is Albert Einstein's when he said: "Everyone is a genius, but if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree it will live its whole life thinking it is stupid." This Christmas my goal is to be attentive to the things I am to learn, no matter where the lesson comes from.
I spent the weekend with some of my friends who now live in Illinois, one of whom has a birthday close to mine. The weekend was filled with lots of food and laughter, good life conversations, disc golf, a few games of around the world and some good times. I even had a dream the night of my birthday that America was invaded by another country and I was the one who saved the day for a small number of people in Waynesville! It was pretty exciting times.
Something interesting that I found I do when I go out of town is stay with a family that I enjoy being around and just mold into their life and the things they do for a few days. It is fun for me to do that for some reason. I'm not much of a go off a do your own thing kind of person, so I enjoy being with other people and attempting to make their lives easier while I am there. I enjoy learning from the real lives of people in actually situations, not just in theoretical kind of conversations. Through one of the conversations I had while playing disc golf I found that I have helped other people more than I knew over time... someone whom I thought I was just learning from. This is evidence that you really can learn something from anyone... even me! It was just a short lesson on humility and it made me wonder how many lessons I miss out on because I think that I am the one who is supposed to teach them something?
I'm not sure if most people resonate with quotes, but one that has stuck with me for a while now is Albert Einstein's when he said: "Everyone is a genius, but if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree it will live its whole life thinking it is stupid." This Christmas my goal is to be attentive to the things I am to learn, no matter where the lesson comes from.
Monday, November 12, 2012
Ballets and Squirrels: What Happens When Things Don't Make Sense
In a way it seems fitting, the kind of day it is today. Rain, wind, and utter drear. Outside in many ways mirrors what a lot of people are feeling on the inside and have been feeling for the past week or more. There has been national disaster that has affected many, half the nation did not get the president for which they voted, there has been an untimely death of a few young girls in our community, and to top it all off, for some people, the home is not somewhere they can find encouragement or sometimes even love. It all seems so heavy and so difficult to bear. For someone who likes to help, I feel like I am running around with a box of band aides in a field of people who have lost limbs.
When disaster hits it is a bit confusing because there is something that doesn’t quite fit in our picture of how things are supposed to be. We all have a general framework, though faulty at times, of how things should work in our day to day lives and when something disrupts that there are questions. Imagine that you were to go to a ballet or a high end musical where everyone brings out their best dress wear. The venue where the event is being held is top notch; high ceilings, fancy concession, and ushers with white gloves and 3 piece suits. Now imagine that you are walking to get a beverage from the concession before the show begins and when you look over you notice that one usher has one arm with the elbow bent out ready to escort someone to their seat, but the other is straight down with the hand bent out at a 90 degree angle next to the waist as a perch. On the perch hand there is a squirrel sitting there. This would raise all kinds of questions and would probably stop you in your tracks because it just doesn’t fit in the framework of what is supposed to happen at an event of such class.
The same is true of life. The reason that a squirrel at a ballet would raise questions for you is not because you don’t know what a squirrel is, you just don’t understand what it is doing at a ballet, because it doesn’t fit in the context of what is supposed to be at a ballet. The same is true with tragedy; no one has asked me what a hurricane is and no one has asked me what death is, but there have been lots of questions that surround these topics.
Through all of this I have been reminded of two things that were big encouragements to me when I have dealt with loss:
• “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”
Most of the time we want hope and we want to know that everything is going to be alright, but we discount this process that has been laid out for us of perseverance, character and hope. The way we get to a deeper sense of hope is if we persevere through our sufferings and allow that to build character within us. So you have to stand and be willing to persevere. Don’t look for the easy out.
• The other thing is quite simple and it comes out of the book of Ecclesiastes and it says:
“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.”
I hope this is helpful to someone. And I ask that you will join me in prayer for those who have had their world rocked recently and for those who are still dealing with the ramifications of something that happened years ago. Pray that we all can know and live as if there really is a hope that all things will be made new, because it is real and it is true.
When disaster hits it is a bit confusing because there is something that doesn’t quite fit in our picture of how things are supposed to be. We all have a general framework, though faulty at times, of how things should work in our day to day lives and when something disrupts that there are questions. Imagine that you were to go to a ballet or a high end musical where everyone brings out their best dress wear. The venue where the event is being held is top notch; high ceilings, fancy concession, and ushers with white gloves and 3 piece suits. Now imagine that you are walking to get a beverage from the concession before the show begins and when you look over you notice that one usher has one arm with the elbow bent out ready to escort someone to their seat, but the other is straight down with the hand bent out at a 90 degree angle next to the waist as a perch. On the perch hand there is a squirrel sitting there. This would raise all kinds of questions and would probably stop you in your tracks because it just doesn’t fit in the framework of what is supposed to happen at an event of such class.
The same is true of life. The reason that a squirrel at a ballet would raise questions for you is not because you don’t know what a squirrel is, you just don’t understand what it is doing at a ballet, because it doesn’t fit in the context of what is supposed to be at a ballet. The same is true with tragedy; no one has asked me what a hurricane is and no one has asked me what death is, but there have been lots of questions that surround these topics.
Through all of this I have been reminded of two things that were big encouragements to me when I have dealt with loss:
• “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”
Most of the time we want hope and we want to know that everything is going to be alright, but we discount this process that has been laid out for us of perseverance, character and hope. The way we get to a deeper sense of hope is if we persevere through our sufferings and allow that to build character within us. So you have to stand and be willing to persevere. Don’t look for the easy out.
• The other thing is quite simple and it comes out of the book of Ecclesiastes and it says:
“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.”
I hope this is helpful to someone. And I ask that you will join me in prayer for those who have had their world rocked recently and for those who are still dealing with the ramifications of something that happened years ago. Pray that we all can know and live as if there really is a hope that all things will be made new, because it is real and it is true.
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