Out of control!

Two confessions:  One.  I’m a bit of a control freak.  (Many of you who know me are saying, “Seriously?!!?” and laughing.)  Two, I get a little ‘tweaked’ when I acknowledge that I am not in control of many of the circumstances I experience in life.  When I get out of the “driver’s seat” and turn over control to someone else, it makes me extremely uncomfortable and, yes, frightened.   My typical response when asked to “slide over,” is “What??!!!??”  

Am I the only one with this problem or are you with me in this? 

So, here’s the truth we must embrace and accept:  We can’t control our circumstances.  The only thing we can control is how we respond to our circumstances!

This morning when I read Mary’s story in the Gospel of Luke 1.26-56, I was amazed at her trust in God and His word! 

Mary was a teenager when the angel Gabriel told her to get out of the driver’s seat because God was going to do an amazing thing with and through her. 

“Slide over, Mary.  You will conceive and give birth to a son .. a son conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit.” 

What!!???!!

She found herself pregnant even though she was a virgin! 

What??!!??

She experienced the disappointment, dismay and disbelief of her family, friends, and fiancé.

What??!!??

This child whom the angels told her would be “holy and called the Son of God.” 

What??!!??

She would find herself in a smelly stable giving birth to this “Son of God, Son of the Most High”! 

What??!!??

What control did Mary have over her circumstances?  None.  She could not control God’s plan to send a Savior for all of humanity.  She could not control her financial poverty.  She could not control her family’s response to her “unexpected pregnancy.”  She could not control Joseph’s response to her apparent “disgrace.” 

In the midst of her circumstances, Mary held tight to the promises of God she received through the angel Gabriel.  She found serenity and gave birth to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

When life seems out of control and we want to shout, “What!!??!!,”  we need to find serenity by holding tightly to God’s promises found in His word.  When we do this, we, too, will find serenity “in the passenger’s seat!”  

Leftovers

A long time ago, I used a team of horses pulling a wagon piled high with hay to feed cattle during the winter months in Montana.  The two horses were named Tiny and Tom.  Tom weighed 2,005 pounds and Tiny weighed in at an even 2,000.   Every winter morning, I would roll out of bed about 4am and stumble out to the horse barn to get them ready for the day with several pounds of rolled oats and ½ bale of grass hay each.   You know what happens to that much roughage, don’t you?  About every three to four weeks, I would shovel the “leftovers” out the door into a large pile!

There is one lesson I learned from all this – stables stink! 

Luke 2.6&7 –And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.

    

Jesus was born in a stable.  Historians tell us that the stable was not like what we see on our Christmas cards!  It was probably more like a cave – dark, damp, and filled with the stench of “leftovers.”  It was in the midst of all of this that Jesus came to us. 

He comes to us in the same way today.  He comes in the midst of the “darkness and stench” of our lives.  He doesn’t wait until we get “cleaned up.”    

Here’s an amazing truth.  It is when we turn our lives over to God that the real “house cleaning” begins!! 

Merry Christmas!

Walk the Line

Just recently Dawn and I watched Walk the Line – the Johnny Cash story.  (Great movie, I might add!) 

                                                                                                                                                   

Toward the end of the movie we are invited to Thanksgiving dinner at Johnny’s new house with his mother and father along with the parents of June Carter.  Johnny, who has been sober for a short while, relapses. 

At the dinner table with an intoxicated Johnny, we learn that the death of his older brother in a terrible saw mill accident was at the core of Johnny’s drinking problem.  Most alcoholics/addict self-medicate to relieve some form of pain of the past. 

We also learn that this same incident was at the core of the father’s sobriety!  Most alcoholics/addicts have to “bottom out” before they will acknowledge that their life is out of control and decide to do something about getting their life back!

I find it very interesting how the perception of one event can deeply WOUND one person and cause another one to WAKE UP. 

We all experience “triggers” in life – those people, circumstances, words, things that create a response within our souls.  When we experience a “trigger,” it creates a thought.  That thought then creates an emotion.  The emotion manifests itself in a behavioral response. 

The key to change is NOT changing our circumstances or how “we feel” about our circumstances or other “triggers.”  The way to change our behavior is to change the way we think.

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think (Romans 12.2/NLT)

Thanks for your patience

I viewed my blog about patience and discovered the cartoon I referenced was not included in the post. 

So.. thanks for your patience...

here it is...

Urban Animals

Nearly every morning Dawn and I walk to Lion’s Park and around the lake.  As we enter the park, we are usually greeted by urban animals – squirrels, crows, and ducks seeking a handout – usually in the form of peanuts in the shell – from humans.    

These urban animals have acquired two characteristics that set them apart from those of their species outside of the park.  They have become dependent and weak. 

They are dependent in that they no longer seek nourishment other than that that is handed to them. 

They are weak because they no longer have the “umph” to forage their own.  It seems they would much rather hang out around the lake waiting for a handout than trying to meet their needs.  And when a passing human does not give a generous handout, the urban animals become defiant and somewhat aggressive.  Crows swoop down on those passing by; squirrels line the walkways and squawk their disapproval; ducks crowd the walkways and quack their indignation. 

As I watch these urban animals, I shake my head. Not only do I see dependent and weak animals, I see “us!”  Have we become “dependent” and “weak”?  Would we rather sit around waiting for a handout than do the hard work of trying to meet our own needs?  Have we become “urban animals”? 

Urban animals attend church but never study the Bible on their own.  Urban animals preach from behind a protected pulpit squawking their opinion without doing the hard work of studying the word of God.  Urban animals sit around quacking their indignation on a plethora of subjects and do nothing but make a lot of noise.  Urban animals fill our rehab centers.  Urban animals populate our welfare rolls.   

Well known psychologist Viktor Frankl (Man’s Search for Meaning) was fond of saying that a Statue of Responsibility should be erected on the West coast of American to complement the Statue of Liberty on the East. 

Yes.   Every individual has the right to food, shelter, clothing, health care, etc.  AND…AND…every individual also has a responsibility to try to meet their own needs.  The urban animals need to quit expecting a handout! 

The apostle Paul puts it this way ….

 

1 Thessalonians 5:14 -- Brothers and sisters, we urge you to warn those who are lazy.

2 Thessalonians 3:10 --Even while we were with you, we gave you this command: “Those unwilling to work will not get to eat.”

Tough Patience

I was a runner for 23 years.  My athletic claim to fame is that I was the oldest NAIA Division II athlete to letter in cross country when I attended the University of Sioux Falls!  My most enjoyable run was the Lincoln ½ marathon with Thomas and Kristi Beyer to celebrate Kristi’s 40^th birthday!    

As a distance runner, I understand the term “run with endurance” in Hebrews 12.1 (NLT) --  

And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.

The term I DON’T understand is found in the King James translation of this verse –

… and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

When I think of doing something with patience, I think of “non-activity” – like waiting, sitting still, counting to 10, etc.  And there is no question in my mind that the patience of “non-activity” takes tremendous strength.  (If you doubt that, trying being still the next time someone cuts you off in traffic!)

This cartoon illustrates well what most think of when they hear the word “patience” –

               

The question I asked myself was “how does one run with patience”?   As I struggled to understand this phrase, I realized that the patience that runs takes greater strength than the patience of non-activity.   

 When we run with patience the race that is set before us, we run with—

                the strength to continue working after a setback

                                the strength to go about daily life with deep sorrow in our hearts

the strength keep running the race God has set before us in the midst of uncertainty

the strength to keep moving forward in the midst of the mundane

the strength to continue to trust God regardless of our challenging circumstances

                the strength stay clean and sober

Here’s where running with patience gets really tough.  We patiently run the race in our workplace, while shopping, during social events, while serving others, and at church.

And here’s where running with patience becomes do-able.  God is running the race with us!  We are never alone.  When our strength is depleted, His takes over!    

                Even youths will become weak and tired,
                                and young men will fall in exhaustion.
                But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.
                                They will soar high on wings like eagles.
                They will run and not grow weary.
                                They will walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:30-31)

Road to Nowhere

I attend Element Church here in Cheyenne.  Quite often I am overwhelmed at the sense of God’s presence.  I am continually amazed each Sunday as individuals find new life in Christ! 

However, I quite often feel like I don’t “fit” at Element.  There are several reasons why:  I don’t shave my head.  I don’t wear Toms or Converse.  I don’t wear jeans with holes in the knees.  I don’t have a tattoo.  I’m over 40 (by a long way) AND…. I like Country Music! 

One of my favorite country songs is “Nowhere Road” by Waylon and Willie.  They sing about a road that leads to nowhere –

 I’ve been down this road just searching for the end;

and it don’t go nowhere, it just brings you back again. 

Leaves you lonely and cold, standing on the shoulder,

but you’ve come too far to go back home

so you’re walking on a nowhere road.

I remember all too well the years I spent on that nowhere road.  Have you been there?  Are you there now?  No matter how long you’ve been walking the nowhere road or how far from home you feel you’ve traveled, God has provided a way back –  

And a great road will go through that once deserted land.
      It will be named the Highway of Holiness.
   Evil-minded people will never travel on it.
      It will be only for those who walk in God’s ways;
      fools will never walk there. (Isaiah 35.8 – NLT)

The Highway of Holiness leads you back home.