And the rains came down ...

With all this rain we've been getting I been thinking back to an old Vacation Bible School song we used to sing when I was young, The Wise Man Built His House Upon the Rock. 

It's based on a story Jesus told in Matthew 7 at the end of his longest recorded teaching that is often referred to as The Sermon on the Mount.    

When the rains came and the wind blew the wise man's house stood firm because it was built on the rock solid foundation of Jesus' teachings.  On the other hand, the foolish man's house, which was built on the sand, fell apart when the winds and rain came because it wasn't built on Jesus' teaching.    The song was always one of the favorites especially since it had fun hand motions.  All us kids would raise our hands and mimic rain falling down and the fun part was when the foolish man's house went "splat"!

The plain message of the parable is that some lives will be able to weather the storms of life while others won't and the difference isn't the structure itself but the underlying foundation. 

Imagine building a house and giving no thought to the foundation?  

Our family likes to watch those home repair shows especially the ones where the contractors find some old house and put together a beautiful plan to restore the structure.  They sit down with the homeowners and dazzle them with their computer animated remodel and set out a plan to transform the dilapidated house.  Inevitably, as they begin their work some unexpected issue comes up.  Often times there is some previously unseen structural issue that needs to be addressed before the renovation can continue.  Everything is put on hold because there's no sense building a beautiful structure if it's about to fall in on itself.  The disappointed couple have to make some sacrifices since no one wants their house to go "splat"!

We humans tend to spend a lot of time and effort in the structure, and Jesus knew that.  That's why he tells this story.  He's warning us that no matter how pretty we look on the outside and no matter how impressed our friends are when they tour our lives, what really matters are those things that no one else can see - our foundation. 

Imagine building a life and giving no thought to the foundation?

There's really no sense living a life that will fall in on itself when the rains come and the winds blow.  And, as we all know, the rains do come and the winds do blow and, when they do, what really matters, the only thing that matters, is your foundation.

Jesus makes the bold claim, "Listen to my words and put them into practice and you can be sure that your life will have a rock solid foundation."  At the very least he's worth a hearing, isn’t he? 

It may require a little sacrifice but no one wants their life to go "splat"!

God is my co-pilot

The world was taken back last month when a plane crashed into the French Alps killing all 150 aboard.   While all plane crashes of this magnitude make front-page news, this one was even more chilling as it appears the co-pilot intentionally took the plane down in a suicide / mass murder. 

When I fly I assume the pilots will do all they can to get me to my destination.  I assume they are all of sound mind and body.  I assume that all pilots are like my hometown's own local hero Captain “Sully” Sullenberger who six years earlier employed all his flying skills to save his passengers.    I don’t often give much thought to who is in the cockpit, but I guess it does matter.

As strange as it may seem, in the aftermath of this disaster a popular bumper sticker from my youth came to mind – God is my co-pilot.  Of course, pilot or co-pilot is never used in the Bible as a metaphor for God, but I guess it serves as a modern day equivalent of The Lord is my Shepherd.  It suggests a confidence that Christians have in God that He will lead them safely to their destination. 

I suppose that most of the people who read this blog have already to some degree handed over the controls to God, and you’re welcome to read on, but what I have to say next is more relevant to those who have not.   Yet, I suppose I am calling all of us to give some thought to where our lives are going and who is in the cockpit, because it really does matter.

The 17th century mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal offered a defense of Christianity in what has come to be known as Pascal’s Wager.  Essentially Pascal posits that all human beings place a bet that God either exists or doesn’t exist.  If you bet on His existence and you’re wrong, you really haven’t lost anything.  But, if He does exist you stand to gain everything.  If you wager that He doesn’t exist and you’re right, you gain nothing in view that there is nothing beyond this world.  Yet, if He does exist, you stand to lose everything.  In a sense, the wager boils down to these two things:  is there any destination to life and, if so, who is in your cockpit.

We’re all on a flight we call life.  Some believe it is a flight to nowhere.  The flight itself is all we have and there is no destination.   Enjoy your peanuts and complimentary beverage, because that’s all there is.  No need for a pilot because there is no destination.    That is a philosophy of life.  A sad one in my estimation, but nonetheless one that many have chosen.

On the other hand, there are many more who believe that this life is journey to a greater and longer-lasting destination.  In fact, every human culture has had some sense of a destination, an after-life.  Yet so many people give no thought to who is in the cockpit.  We live with a sense of destination but act like there is none.  We are lulled into a quiet confidence that all life philosophies, like all pilots, can be trusted.  But perhaps they can’t.  At the very least, shouldn’t we all check who is in the cockpit before we entrust our lives to them?

The voice recorders from that Germanwings flight brought to light the harrowing cries of the pilot as it became more obvious that the plane was going down.  He was heard pounding on the locked cockpit door pleading, “Open the d—n door!”   I couldn’t help but recall the eerily similar words of Jesus – “I stand at the door and knock.”

I guess it matters who is in the cockpit.  It really does.  Our very lives depend on it.

    

Ears to Hear

I've done a lot of funerals in my twenty plus years of ministry, far more than I thought I would ever do.  Every service touches me in a unique way and with each funeral I seem to come away with a life-lesson I needed to hear.  Recently I was taught a valuable lesson as I eulogized a certain man.  His name was Dillon.

For many years he had been a member of the church I serve but then, a few years ago, he moved away.  Shortly before his death as his health was deteriorating, he moved back to the area, and when he passed I was asked to perform his funeral, which I was honored to do.  There were many admirable qualities about Dillon, but it was actually his disability that taught me the most.

Some time ago Dillon had surgery for throat cancer that left him unable to speak.  For all the years I knew him he had to use an electronic device to communicate.  He would hold up the gadget to his throat and the vibrations would create a mechanical voice allowing him to speak.   As amazing as this technology is, it was still somewhat difficult to make out exactly what he was saying.   When I would have a conversation with him I would have to listen especially carefully to understand him.   I would lean in and block out all the noise around me.  If I listened closely, I could understand.

As I prepared my remarks for his memorial service it dawned on me that Dillon's disability revealed a disability I had, and perhaps one that many suffer from.  It is a self-imposed disability that prevents us from hearing.  It's not a biological defect or a loss from surgery.  It is a failure to listen - to really listen.  I thought that if I only took the time to listen to others with the same focus and concentration I used with Dillon how much better I could hear and understand what others were trying to say. 

New Testament author James wrote a letter to a group of people that seemed to be having some inter-personal issues -- issues which were uncharacteristic for Christians who professed love and compassion.  Part of his wise advice is this nugget:  Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.   Perhaps some of the anger and resentment these people were experiencing was because they were just not listening to one another.  James appears to be suggesting that some anger can be diffused if we are more determined to lean in closely and really listen to one another.   Jesus seemed to be onto this problem as well.  On a couple of occasions he concluded his teaching with the curious phrase, "If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” 

There's an old Irish proverb that says "God gave us two ears and one mouth, so we ought to listen twice as much as we speak."  Dillon reminded me that if I  determinedly used those two ears,  I could hear a lot more than I choose to.   He reminded me that my ears only work when I lean in and listen.  He taught me that if I really listen closely, I can understand.

Number Your Days

This past Monday was Groundhog Day.  It has always amazed me that a groundhog gets a "day."   I wonder how all the other animals feel about that?  No offense to the critters, but Groundhog Day is probably best known because of the 1993 movie with Bill Murray. 

If you haven’t seen the movie you probably know the premise.  A disgruntled television reporter is sent to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania to cover the Groundhog Day festivities and is further disgruntled when he is snowed in and has to stay another night.  He wakes up the next day and, instead of it being the day after groundhog day, it's groundhog day all over again.  This cycle humorously repeats itself giving Phil, the disgruntled reporter, a chance to perfect that day.  Through a process of trial and error he gets to relive a day until he finally gets it right.  Happy ending.  Roll the credits.

The movie, of course, is fantasy.  Things like that don’t happen.  Although there are some days when we'd like a "do-over", the fact of the matter is that life is a one shot deal.  Each day starts and each day ends and when the clock strikes midnight the day is gone - forever.  Every day is a slice of life that can never be reclaimed .  The moral of Groundhog Day, as a I see it, is to recognize this reality and make sure that you do all you can to get every day right!

The Bible encourages us to "number our days."  What an interesting thought.  Each day has a number, a unique marker that will never repeat itself.  Too often I think of life in terms of years.  After all, we celebrate our birthday once a year.   When asked my age I would tell you I'm 53.   We measure our lives in 365 day units.  I suppose that makes it easier to keep track of things,  but what if we celebrated every day!  If we did,  I'm 19,397.  Try blowing out all those candles!

The Bible also reminds us that, "This is the day the Lord has made!"  God has made "this" day, and I figure that anything God has made has a function and a purpose.  This day is unique.  I'll never have another February 6, 2015.   There are no do-over's, so if I'm going to get this day right I must recognize I have one chance, and one chance only.

Granted, some days will be better than others.  Some days will be more productive than others.  Some days will be more memorable.  Some days we will wish never happened.  Some days will be wasted.  But to make the most out of our lives, which is really just a compilation of days, we must greet each dawn and give it its unique number knowing that it will never repeat itself.  If we don’t, we will come to the end of our days and wonder where all those 24 hour units went.

On the other hand, when we treasure every day as its own unique gift we radically increase the probability that we will get more and more of those days right, and as those days pile up we will see that we have built for ourselves a life that will have a happy ending!

Well, I'm going to live #19,397 today.  Have a yourself a great "day"!

Psalm 90:12

Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Blessings in the Messes

Sometimes life is a mess!  As I sit in my own office you can barely see the top of my desk as just about every available flat surface is cluttered with some books or papers of some sort!  Sermons to preach, classes to teach, meetings to prepare for, schedules to keep - my office sometimes resembles the aftereffects of an F3 tornado!

Maybe your life looks a lot like my office.  You just can't keep up with all the demands, you can’t tidy up all the clutter, you can't organize all the tasks.  Stacks of papers to be filed, toys to trip over, dishes waiting to be washed, laundry overflowing the hamper, to-do lists that seem endless.  Sometimes life can just get jumbled and untidy!  Sometimes life is a mess!

Now I certainly don’t want to discourage tidiness and I'm not one to dispute the old adage,   "Cleanliness is next to Godliness" (I'm thankful that one's not in the good Book), but maybe we can look at our messy lives through a different lens and instead of being filled with panic, we can be filled with praise!

I need all the wisdom I can get, so one of my favorite books of the Bible is Proverbs.  While reading through it the other day I came across a maxim that spoke to my messy life.  It was in  Proverbs 14:4, "Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean."    It puzzled me at first, but after some thinking I figured that maybe having a messy life is not as bad as I thought.

I don’t have a manger, I have never raised an animal, but it's common sense that if you do raise animals and rely on them to get work done, then you're bound to have a mess or two to clean up.  A clean manger  may be nice, but without the messy ox you’re not going to get much work done!  No messes mean no work.  No messes means no crops.  Maybe the sage is telling us that when you step in that mess instead of resorting to cussing you can be thankful that you have that ox who made that mess!

The mess means you have an ox!  The loads of laundry mean you have clothes!  The dirty dishes mean you have food!  The toys mean you have fun! The clutter means that life is happening all around you!  The messes around us, more often than not, are the aftereffect of God's blessings in our lives.

Perhaps a resolution we can make as we enter into another certain-to-be messy year is to find the blessings in the messes around us because sometimes life can be a mess!  And thank God for that!