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I’m thankful for the struggles I’ve gone through in life.  I’m thankful for God’s presence through some very rough patches, that have continued to form who I am, and who I’m becoming. Like most people, I didn’t have a perfect life growing up.  There were imperfections, trials, etc…but there were also beautiful moments of transformation.  There were words spoken of hope, and identity in Christ.   There were moments of trust and love seemingly undeserved – that went to the very core of my being.  I’m thankful for a life that lent itself to being sensitive to moments like those.   If life had been perfect, I’m not sure how aware I would have been of all God was offering me.

We were reminded last night of Moses warning the people of Israel before they entered the promised land.  Warning them that as they experience prosperity, they will also experience less of a need for God.  Less of a natural thankfulness for all He’s doing for them.  He knew that prosperity would lead them to exalt “self”, and gain confidence in their own power and might.

We have more than a small amount of that these days.  We’re also told by most sources, that the best way to raise your children is to give them everything they need.  Some might even say, everything they want.  Especially this time of year, we sit them on Santa’s lap and listen closely to what they tell him.  We hope that we can provide most of the significant things they whisper.  Many of us justify it, also, by saying to ourselves, “I want to give my kids to kind of ______ that I never had.”  We put band-aids over growing up “in want” by trying to give our kids everything off their list.

The result?  Kids who want even more.  Who move from one source of pleasure to the next, embracing a toy about as long as a sucker, and only getting upset at it’s absence when their sibling tries to check it out.

I’m thankful for all that not having a car has led me into experiencing.  When our second car died earlier this year, we had (and still have) the choice to go looking for a cheap replacement.  I never really stressed about it, and figured God might actually bring one our way, as He has twice in the past already.  But this time, no call came from a philanthropic car owner.  I learned how to navigate our city’s bus system, and have had great times meeting new people, and getting growled at by those who don’t carry the label “Morning Person” like I do.  Just 2 weeks ago, my bus driver (named “Bubbles”), asked me, “I know you’re just a youth pastor, but would you pray?”  She shared about her son, and another family friend who were going through large struggles.  I’ve been praying since, and look forward every time I get to remind her she’s not carrying the burden alone.

So what does all of this mean?  I’m not sure I could summarize it well enough.  But I think it gives us permission to buy our children less, allow them to not get everything off their list, and learn to be thankful for what they do have.  It means living our life “palms up”, always ready to receive, and always willing to give – thankfully in the name of Jesus…

Here we go again with another “Five Minute Friday” post!  To learn more about “Five Minute Friday” (FMF), check out the linked image here.  Basically, each week there’s a word given for you to write about.  You start writing, no back-tracking, editing, etc.  At the end of 5 minutes, you stop.  Then you post it, and share in the community of words that were birthed during these 24-ish hours.  It’s cool stuff.
So here’s this week’s response to the word:STAY
I remember growing up, we had a puppy.  A few days went by, and it died.  Beethoven the Beagle – rest in peace.  Then not long after, we obtained a new puppy.   A cross between a Chow, a Saint Bernard, and a demon.  When training a puppy, you often find yourself yelling (to no avail), “Stay!”.  Needless to say, Barney was not a fan of – nor talented with – the gift of “staying”.

We had a pool in the backyard, and it often became a game of “who will distract Barney long enough for the rest of us to get into the pool without being mauled?”  Seriously, throw the ball, run barefoot across the grass, and pray to God he doesn’t jump on your back forcing you to the ground.  You may be laughing, but it got to the point where we had to dump the food over the fence and back up quickly.  He ate Furball and Mr. Rogers (our rabbits).

As much as I have negative memories of Barney, I know he was just a puppy who never learned to “Stay”, because he didn’t have consistent teachers/enforcers.  His overpowering “puppy love” was out of control, and his claws/teeth were simply trying to show his affection.

I want my love for God and others to be just as energetic.  Sure, the metaphor has limits…I don’t want to maul anyone, or to hurt anyone by love that doesn’t know how to be expressed.  But I also don’t want to limit my love for God, my family, or strangers whom God loves – simply because conventional expressions demand something more Hallmark-ish.

 

dang….5 minutes gone.

How about you?  Have you loved like a giant, dangerous puppy recently?  🙂

I’ve just finished reading “The Radiance of the King“, a book I discovered on accident at a Salvation Army in Hillsboro, IL.  It’s an African literature classic, written originally in French in 1954 by Camara Laye.  It’s a great book on many levels…but for me, it hit strongly on two in particular.

First – the levels of mystery and difference it reveals that exist between ancient African cultures and my own.  The confused main character, who has been shipwrecked and finds himself navigating alone through unknown lands.  At first he’s demaning an audience with the King, and that yields to submitting and humbling himself to a journey larger than he’d intended.  Second – probably unintended, but it’s hard to imagine not making a connection here – the levels of connection between this story and our experience of Jesus as King.  The entire book, Clarence desires to come before the King.  He might miss an opportunity, and he may not always have it as his first thought, but it is nevertheless foundational for who he is becoming.

Here’s a sample to make you want to grab a copy….
“Still the king did not turn his eyes away.  And his eyes…In spite of everything, his eyes seemed to be calling…Then, suddently, Clarence went up to him.  He ought to have bumped into the outer wall, but as he approached it the wall melted away, the hut behind him melted away, and he walked on.

He went forward and he had no garment upon his nakedness. But the thought did not enter his head that he ought first of all to have put his (covering) on; the king was looking at him, and nothing, nothing had any more meaning beside that look.  It was so luminous a look, one in which there was so much sweetness that hope, a foolish hope, woke in Clarence’s heart.  Yes, hope now strove with fear within him, and hope was growing stronger than fear.  And though the sense of his impurity seemed to be holding him back, at the same time Clarence was going forward.  He went on with stumbling steps; he stumbled as he trod on the rich carpet; every moment it seemed to him as if his legs or the ground beneat him were going to disappear.   But he kept moving forward, forward all the time, and his legs did not betray him, nor did the ground open up under him.  And that look….That look still did not turn away from him.  “My lord! My lord!” Clarence kept whispering, “Is it true that you are calling me?  Is it true that the odor which is upon me does not offend you and does not make you turn away in horror?”

And because that look still calmly rested upon him, because the call was still going out to him, he was pierced as if by a tongue of fire….”
So what happens to Clarence?  Was this his first meeting with the King?  His last?  How did the King respond?  Note: there may be one or two scenes that may offend readers.  If that happens, simply skip to the next paragraph.  Let me know if you wanna borrow my copy, or check here to order yours!