In May 1995, Randy Reid, a 34-year-old construction worker, was welding on top of a nearly completed water tower in our area. According to writer Melissa Ramsdell, Reid unhooked his safety gear to reach for some pipes when a metal cage slipped and bumped the scaffolding he stood on. The scaffolding tipped, and Reid lost his balance. He fell 110 feet, landing face down on a pile of dirt, just missing rocks and construction debris. A fellow worker called 911.
When paramedics arrived, they found Reid conscious, moving, and complaining of a sore back. As paramedics carried him on a backboard to the ambulance, Reid had one request: "Don’t drop me." (Doctors later said Reid came away from the accident with just a bruised lung.)
He just fell 110 feet and came away with virtually no injuries. And yet, while being carried by two strong paramedics, hoisted just two and a half feet above the ground, he was concerned he might fall. Two and a half feet? Really? I have a feeling Reid was just expressing his also uninjured sense of humor.
But that is so like us. When you think of it, the really big stuff has been taken care of for us. We’ve been delivered from the guilt of our sin, from God’s righteous anger against our willful rebellion against him. We had it coming. But he absorbed what we deserved when he died on the cross. Our greatest need was reconciliation with our creator and he took care of that. He gave us what we desperately needed, new spiritual life, available because of his resurrection. He released us from humanity’s greatest fear: death. He defeated it altogether! He forgave us, released us from slavery, gave us a new and eternal life, and brought us into a parent-child relationship with God….and guaranteed our ultimate home in heaven with the gift of his Holy Spirit!
Then we worry about the mortgage over the pile of deteriorating sticks we will be staying in for a few years, or whether or not we will have enough for a dozen years or so of retirement, or whether or not our dying bodies will remain healthy (they won’t). It’s like we just fell 110 feet with virtually no injuries, and while being hoisted a couple feet in the air, are worried about falling. I wonder if God ever chuckles.
“That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith? “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need” (Matthew 6:25–33 NLT).
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Friday, February 17, 2012
What Are You Thinking About?
Two sisters, a year apart in middle school, returned from winter break after a week at Disney World with their family. One was down in the dumps and when asked what was wrong, she retorted, “I just came back from a week off school in Florida to this freezing cold weather and homework––that’s what’s wrong.”
The other sister was all smiles and at the top of the world. She was asked why she was so happy. “I just came back from a week with my family in Florida, where it was warm and sunny, and we had a great time!”
Some people cry when a good time is over. Others smile because it happened.
The difference in these two girls’ attitudes will be telling of how their lives turn out. The one will go on and struggle in her relationships, jobs, and life in general. When things go well, she’ll have a hard time enjoying it. When things go poorly, she’ll be quick to invite others into her misery.
The other sister will thrive among friends and build strong relationships. She’ll face as much adversity but find hope to overcome and reason to rejoice in good and bad. Arthur Rubinstein said, “I have found that if you love life, life will love you back.”
I don’t think this is just the old optimism vs. pessimism debate. I am an optimist and I do get annoyed with pessimists. But I know that they are often more realistic than I am and they have reason to get annoyed with me. And if it weren’t for the pessimists, we’d have trouble seeing pitfalls to avoid.
I think this is more about attitude than anything else. We will find in our Authentic Faith study in Philippians in a couple of weeks, that how we choose to think, and even what we choose to think about, is primary in our emotional state. And the combination of the two are highly involved in determining how our lives turn out. Happy people are not necessarily those who have everything going for them. We know that. People with joy are those who have learned to look at life from a joyful perspective. Those who are always sure they would be happier doing something different or had they been handed different circumstances, consign themselves to an unsatisfied existence.
Robert Fulghum in It Was on Fire When I Lay Down on It, wrote, “The grass is NOT, in fact, always greener on the other side of the fence. Fences have nothing to do with it. The grass is greenest where it is watered. When crossing over fences, carry water with you and tend the grass wherever you may be.”
Life does not just happen. For the most part, we make what happens in life. And that, starts in our mind.
“Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (Philippians 4:8 ESV).
What are you thinking about?
The other sister was all smiles and at the top of the world. She was asked why she was so happy. “I just came back from a week with my family in Florida, where it was warm and sunny, and we had a great time!”
Some people cry when a good time is over. Others smile because it happened.
The difference in these two girls’ attitudes will be telling of how their lives turn out. The one will go on and struggle in her relationships, jobs, and life in general. When things go well, she’ll have a hard time enjoying it. When things go poorly, she’ll be quick to invite others into her misery.
The other sister will thrive among friends and build strong relationships. She’ll face as much adversity but find hope to overcome and reason to rejoice in good and bad. Arthur Rubinstein said, “I have found that if you love life, life will love you back.”
I don’t think this is just the old optimism vs. pessimism debate. I am an optimist and I do get annoyed with pessimists. But I know that they are often more realistic than I am and they have reason to get annoyed with me. And if it weren’t for the pessimists, we’d have trouble seeing pitfalls to avoid.
I think this is more about attitude than anything else. We will find in our Authentic Faith study in Philippians in a couple of weeks, that how we choose to think, and even what we choose to think about, is primary in our emotional state. And the combination of the two are highly involved in determining how our lives turn out. Happy people are not necessarily those who have everything going for them. We know that. People with joy are those who have learned to look at life from a joyful perspective. Those who are always sure they would be happier doing something different or had they been handed different circumstances, consign themselves to an unsatisfied existence.
Robert Fulghum in It Was on Fire When I Lay Down on It, wrote, “The grass is NOT, in fact, always greener on the other side of the fence. Fences have nothing to do with it. The grass is greenest where it is watered. When crossing over fences, carry water with you and tend the grass wherever you may be.”
Life does not just happen. For the most part, we make what happens in life. And that, starts in our mind.
“Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (Philippians 4:8 ESV).
What are you thinking about?
Friday, February 3, 2012
Anything Restricting You?
We have vine trouble at our house. The previous owners planted some kind of flowering vine along the fence, and it is pretty during its blooming season. But I hate it. It sends out creepers everywhere and gets itself into everything. We’ve been working the last couple of years to keep it at bay, but it seems like where we pull one section out, a creeper moves over from a nearby area and a week later fills in what we cleared out. It chokes off many of our other plants and even killed one of our favorite shrubs. When we let our little dogs out, I make sure they keep moving for fear of the vine snagging one of them!
The shrub we lost is more like a small tree. We had two of them––one on each front corner of our side yard. The vine entangled itself in and around both and last summer, I went out and cut out as much of it as I could. As predicted, two weeks later, it was back in full force. Not long after, we noticed the one tree began to wilt. Though I again cut out the vine, the shrub never came back and soon after died. I began looking for the source of the vine on the other side to save that shrub and was finally able to unearth the stem that grew from it’s main root. All I did was clip that stem. A week later, the vine was obviously lifeless, though its remaining dry tentacles were still wrapped among the shrub’s branches. But it’s negative impact was gone. The vine was dead (there anyway) because it had been severed from it’s root.
Now we have a living shrub on one corner and a dead shrub on another. I tried to save both by cutting out the vine, but only the side where I got to the root, was the shrub able to be saved.
As we were winterizing the yard last fall, I thought about the vine as sin (mainly because I hate them both). Both are initially attractive and both have a tendency to get into everything and suck the life out of that which is good. I looked at the dead little tree and the living little tree. Both still had the dried leaves and stems from the vines that had attacked them, but only one was still alive. And then I thought of sin’s affect on people I know and love. Some have been destroyed by their sin. Sin that they initially invited in, and though they had made multiple attempts at getting it under control, it ultimately had its way, ending in the destruction of their marriages, or careers, and even their lives.
And then there are those of us who still have some of the reminders of the effects of sin hanging around our branches, but the deadly threat had been eliminated when the source was cut by God’s deliverance. In some ways, the dry, lifeless after affects can serve as reminders of the second chance God has given us through salvation in Christ. In our yard, we cleaned out the old vine to make the bush look better and to grow unrestricted. And once you experience God’s deliverance from sin, He’ll help you clean out the old dead and unsightly appendages that get in the way of healthy growth. But even before that process is complete (not sure it ever really is), you’ll know you’ve been delivered from sin’s threat.
Is that what is weighing you down? Or is the root of sin still attached to its source? Have you come to God to be delivered or are you still progressively being choked off by the growing tentacles of sin. We only have so much time, and as this vine grows, it’s threat accelerates. There is so much at stake. Let Jesus cut the root and enjoy his forgiveness and salvation! Do it now before you become like the second shrub, destroyed by the strangulation of sin.
God loves you! He’s not trying to restrict your life. Sin restricts; Jesus liberates! He’s offering to deliver you, forgive you, eliminate your guilt, provide healing and purpose. Turn to him as your Master and Savior and seize the life you were created to live!
The shrub we lost is more like a small tree. We had two of them––one on each front corner of our side yard. The vine entangled itself in and around both and last summer, I went out and cut out as much of it as I could. As predicted, two weeks later, it was back in full force. Not long after, we noticed the one tree began to wilt. Though I again cut out the vine, the shrub never came back and soon after died. I began looking for the source of the vine on the other side to save that shrub and was finally able to unearth the stem that grew from it’s main root. All I did was clip that stem. A week later, the vine was obviously lifeless, though its remaining dry tentacles were still wrapped among the shrub’s branches. But it’s negative impact was gone. The vine was dead (there anyway) because it had been severed from it’s root.
Now we have a living shrub on one corner and a dead shrub on another. I tried to save both by cutting out the vine, but only the side where I got to the root, was the shrub able to be saved.
As we were winterizing the yard last fall, I thought about the vine as sin (mainly because I hate them both). Both are initially attractive and both have a tendency to get into everything and suck the life out of that which is good. I looked at the dead little tree and the living little tree. Both still had the dried leaves and stems from the vines that had attacked them, but only one was still alive. And then I thought of sin’s affect on people I know and love. Some have been destroyed by their sin. Sin that they initially invited in, and though they had made multiple attempts at getting it under control, it ultimately had its way, ending in the destruction of their marriages, or careers, and even their lives.
And then there are those of us who still have some of the reminders of the effects of sin hanging around our branches, but the deadly threat had been eliminated when the source was cut by God’s deliverance. In some ways, the dry, lifeless after affects can serve as reminders of the second chance God has given us through salvation in Christ. In our yard, we cleaned out the old vine to make the bush look better and to grow unrestricted. And once you experience God’s deliverance from sin, He’ll help you clean out the old dead and unsightly appendages that get in the way of healthy growth. But even before that process is complete (not sure it ever really is), you’ll know you’ve been delivered from sin’s threat.
Is that what is weighing you down? Or is the root of sin still attached to its source? Have you come to God to be delivered or are you still progressively being choked off by the growing tentacles of sin. We only have so much time, and as this vine grows, it’s threat accelerates. There is so much at stake. Let Jesus cut the root and enjoy his forgiveness and salvation! Do it now before you become like the second shrub, destroyed by the strangulation of sin.
God loves you! He’s not trying to restrict your life. Sin restricts; Jesus liberates! He’s offering to deliver you, forgive you, eliminate your guilt, provide healing and purpose. Turn to him as your Master and Savior and seize the life you were created to live!
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