After going through a very difficult time in our ministry, my wife, April recommended, “Take an art class—you’ve always wanted to—maybe it will help you to relax!” She was right. I signed up for a sculpting class, bought my tools, and secured my 25 pound block of cool, grey modeling clay.
I considered making an ashtray—everyone’s first project. I decided that it lacked a certain relevance for this Baptist pastor. A friend recommended replicating Michelangelo’s David—only modestly clad with the minimal undergarments “girding his loins.” Not certain on whether to go with boxers or briefs, I remained stumped. Finally, I decided upon a personal hero, John Bunyan.
If Baptists had saints, icons, or relics, the images and figures of John Bunyan would be among our favorites. He stands as a prolific writer and passionate pastor. Additionally, he sports quite the massive mane—joining Guy Pinrod, and a few others, on a very short list of acceptable Baptists whose locks linger beyond the collar.
As I began to work and shape the pudgy figure of little John, I mused, “So this is how God made Adam?” I shaped his body and skewered him to a clay stump. I glanced at little John and then studied the photo. There still was much work to be done.
It was at this point I recalled hearing about some famous sculptor who said, “In order to sculpt David (for instance) simply remove everything that does not look like David.” I looked at my tools. They were small, but intimidating instruments—wooden knives, scrapers, and a very pointy thing resembling the business end of the compass I used in Geometry. I proceeded to scrape, and scrape, and scrape some more. “Remove everything that doesn’t look like John Bunyan…” I muttered. I continued until the blurred image of a man’s face emerged from the miry clay.
Before I knew it, class was over. “What do I do with this?” I asked my calm, folksy instructor. “I dunno…” he said, “You could leave it here.” I clutched little John and drew him close. The thought of leaving him exposed and out of my sight was frightening. “What was this?” I thought, “Why do I care so much about this lousy lump of clay?” I realized I had some measure of affection for little John—probably because I created him.
Surprisingly, little John is rather high maintenance. While scraping and squeezing, you must spray him with water. When you are not shaping him, he must be kept sealed in an airtight bag. Too bad for John—he spends his whole life in a bag and is only released to be shredded or sliced. Once I reached a stopping point, it was back into the bag—poor John.
By the time you read this little John will be gone. As his creator, I have determined to work on him until 4:35pm (MST), Thursday, September 10, 2009. Most of the scraping is done. The large chunks are gone. All that is really left is the refining. The refinement during his last hours is very tender. There will be no cutting, poking, or prodding. In fact, there will be no instruments—only water and the pressure of the creator’s fingers. At this time, little John will be exactly what I intended for him to be—the image that was born in my mind. My fingerprints will be all over him.
Then it’s into the kiln.
Sounds a little harsh? I agree. But it’s the only way he can stay in my house forever. It’s the only way he can fulfill his purpose. It’s the only way all of the changes can remain permanent. His life, as he knows it, now must end to inherit his place on my mantle. He will never be scraped, sprayed, or bagged again. He can stay with me forever. I already have a place for him.
Why are we poked, prodded, and pounded? It hurts—it seems cruel. Our Creator severs us from everything that weighs us down and hinders our growth. We have become attached to the very things that threaten our life. The sin, the hurt, the rejection, the fear, the pain, and the anger—all of it must go. It’s not that God desires to change you—as much as he longs to release you from these things that are not “you” at all. “Remove everything that does not look like my son…” He whispers. Do not merely assent to the fact that God has made you, accept the feeling that God is making you. He’s not done. It’s not over. The fat lady’s not singing! God knows when to twist, where to touch, how to be tender. His fingerprints are all over you.
Then it’s to the kiln.
The transition from mortal life to eternal life is difficult. I have seen some make this leap—from the finishing table to the Creator’s mantle. This transition refines us and leaves us perfectly in the image God intended for us. Death is only tragic on this side of the fence. Through death God’s changes become irreversible and permanent. Then you are able to shine as a trophy of God’s grace.
Not bad for something that started as a lump…
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Revolutionizing Our Worry
Revolutionizing Our Worry
Luke 2:41-52
Do you know what a futile action is? It is something we do, that simply makes no noticeable positive difference in life. When I began thinking of futile actions, the following examples came to mind:
Cleaning the windows on the Empire State Building. If I understand it correctly, by the time the work crews finish cleaning the last window, it is time to begin cleaning the first window again. There is never a time on the Empire State Building that all of the windows are clean.
How about sweeping a dirt floor? Did you ever do that…as a child that is? About all you can hope for is to make the dirt look better.
These are examples of things we can do that are a waste of time…because we are no better off after we have done these things than we were before we began them. Don’t we feel foolish when we have wasted time like that? It’s like the shortcut we take to save an hour, but end up taking us an hour and a half! We feel foolish, unwise, and sometimes just plain stupid. So we try hard to think about things logically and practically so that we do not waste time…and so that we will have at least some fruit for our labors.
This passage chronicles a tremendous waste of time. In fact, in our lives, we are continually guilty of wasting valuable time and emotional energy on one thing: Worry.
It has rightly been noted that worry is like a rocking chair, it doesn’t get you anywhere, but it gives you something to do in the meantime!
In our account, Mary and Joseph are worried about Jesus. There are two ways to look at the “worry” of Mary and Joseph:
1) The Natural Perspective
As a mother, it is very natural for Mary and Joseph to be concerned when they can not find their son. If you show me a mother who is not concerned for her children, then I will show you a mother who neglects her children. God gives mothers what is called the “maternal instinct”. That is what makes a mother love, care for, and protect her children.
It is very natural for Mary…and Joseph to be worried.
2) The Supernatural Perspective
On the other hand…who is Jesus? He is the son of God…He is Immanuel…He is the Messiah…He is God in the Flesh…He is God. From man’s perspective we understand the worry of Mary and Joseph. But from God’s perspective, this worry is a waste of time. Why? Because Mary and Joseph are worried about God.
Think about that…Being worried about God. Does God need us to care about Him )? Does God need us to protect Him? Even if He did, what could we do about it? Absolutely nothing.
In fact, if God needs us to worry about Him…He’s not God, and this universe is in trouble!
Some give Mary and Joseph a hard time saying, “They should have known the Messiah…the Son of God would be in the temple doing the work of His Father!” Well, let’s take it a little easy on Mary and Joseph. They are very godly people. Mary was most likely the godliest woman who ever lived, and every thing we read about Joseph makes him sound equally right with the Lord. But they are human…and as humans our first instinct in times of trouble is an enormous waste of our time…it is worry!
Let’s look at our natural desire to worry and see how God wants to free us of the futility of worry:
1. The Condition of Worry.
Worry is a fear, stress, or anxiety over situations in our life. We are all well aware of worry. But not all worry is wrong…not all worry is sin:
Worry is not wrong when it is based on…
A. Rational Fear
Rational fear is more than having a “good reason” to be afraid. A rational fear is based on a logical or rational conclusion that there is something in your future to be afraid of!
When I was a child, I would chase my sister with a baseball bat. Just for fun I would corner her and swing the bat at her, and see how close I could get without hitting her…and I never did hit her…by the way. But she would always manage to get away…and I knew where she was heading. I would hear her telling on me! At that moment I was overcome with rational fear. My fear was very reasonable.
Another type of rational fear is the stress that comes from not working. If we all stopped working, in a month or two, our homes, cars, and much of our furniture would be repossessed. We would e homeless and we would barely be able to feed our families. That would cause a lot of stress, anxiety, and worry…to be sure. But is that worry bad? No…that worry should motivate us to get a job and provide for our family.
B. Irrational Fear
Irrational fear is a fear we have for no logical reason, and/or it is a fear that is not even based in reality.
An example of an irrational fear is the fear of being abducted by aliens…unless you re talking about illegal aliens. The fear of UFO’s is irrational because aliens and extraterrestrial beings do not exist.
I do not want to help you justify your worry this morning…because, for the person who has trusted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, all of our fears are irrational fears, so all of our worry is irrational. Here is what I mean:
1) God Does not Cause the Fear that Produces Worry:
2 Timothy 1:7 “ For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”
1 John 4:18 “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.”
2) God Has Promised to Completely Care for Our Every Need:
Philippians 4:19 “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”
2. The Cause of Worry.
Worry is caused when we fear what will happen to us. We try and do every thing we can to change the situation, and in the end, all of our worry and all of our effort is futile. It amounts to nothing! Have you every thought about what God thinks when we worry?
A. Worry is an Insult to the Grace and Goodness of God.
We have already seen the promises of God. He promised to take care of every need we would ever have! So when we worry we show one of two things: Either we are ignorant of the truth of the word of God…or we simply believe we can care for ourselves better than God can. In which case:
B. Worry is Assuming the Responsibility and Expectations of God.
Now, as a Christian I have certain responsibilities. God expects me to make the right choices, and He has promised to give me the wisdom to know what the right choice is:
James 1:5 “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.”
So when I choose to trust myself rather than God I assume the responsibility of God. When mortality assumes the responsibility of immortality…when humanity accepts the expectations that only deity can bear…we will certainly be crushed by worry, fear, anxiety, and stress!
Why are Christians so stressed out? We are trying to do the job of God!
C. Worry is a Lack of Faith, or Dependence on God.
We can call worry a lot of things, and we can classify the many different genres of worry, but in the end worry is a choice to not depend on God!
3. The Cure for Worry.
A. We Must Understand the Nature of God.
What did Jesus say to His mother? “Why are you looking for me…didn’t you know that I must be about my Father’s business?” Jesus was asking if they truly understood who He was. What is the implication? If you know who God is, and you know what He is about, then there is no rational reason for you not to believe in Him.
Do you understand that God is Good and Gracious? Do you understand that He loves you and cares enough about you that He crucified His son in order to keep your soul out of Hell? Do you understand that God has promised that He will never put more on you than you can bear?
B. We Must Accept the Nature of God.
We must accept God…for us this morning we must accept that God is loving, gracious and wanting to meet he needs in our life.
Do you have a debit card? God’s grace and care for us is like having a debit card. When we have a need we just swipe the debit card of prayer, and we access the incredible riches of the grace of God.
C. We Must Depend on the Nature of God.
Are you depending on God, or are you worrying. You aren’t doing both…because worry and faith are opposite extremes. Just like you can be in two places at the same time…you cannot have faith and worry existing in your life simultaneously.
Simply choose to believe God will take care of you, an let Him worry about your future!
FEAR LEADS TO DEATH:
During the Gulf War of 1991, Iraq launched a series of Scud missile attacks against Israel. Many Israeli citizens died as a result of these attacks. After the war was over, Israeli scientists analyzed the official mortality statistics and found something remarkable. Although the death rate had jumped among Israeli citizens on the first day of the Iraqi attacks, the vast majority of them did not die from any direct physical effects of the missiles. They died from heart failure brought on by fear and stress associated with the bombardment.
Psychological studies conducted on Israelis at the time showed that the most stressful time was the first few days leading up to the outbreak of war on January 17 and peaking on the first day of the Scud missile attacks. There was enormous and well-founded concern about possible Iraqi use of chemical and biological weapons. The government had issued to the entire Israeli population gas masks and automatic atropine syringes in case of chemical attack, and every household had been told to prepare a sealed room.
After the first Iraqi strike turned out to be less cataclysmic than feared, levels of stress declined markedly. As in other wars, the people adapted to the situation with surprising speed. Then as the fear and anxiety subsided, the death rate also declined. There were 17 further Iraqi missile attacks over the following weeks, but Israeli mortality figures over this period were no higher than average.
It was fear and the psychological impact of the missiles, not the physical impact, that claimed the majority of victims.
Citation: Paul Martin, The Sickening Mind (HarperCollins, 1997), pp. 3-4; submitted by David Holdaway; Stonehaven, Kincardinshire, Scotland.
Luke 2:41-52
Do you know what a futile action is? It is something we do, that simply makes no noticeable positive difference in life. When I began thinking of futile actions, the following examples came to mind:
Cleaning the windows on the Empire State Building. If I understand it correctly, by the time the work crews finish cleaning the last window, it is time to begin cleaning the first window again. There is never a time on the Empire State Building that all of the windows are clean.
How about sweeping a dirt floor? Did you ever do that…as a child that is? About all you can hope for is to make the dirt look better.
These are examples of things we can do that are a waste of time…because we are no better off after we have done these things than we were before we began them. Don’t we feel foolish when we have wasted time like that? It’s like the shortcut we take to save an hour, but end up taking us an hour and a half! We feel foolish, unwise, and sometimes just plain stupid. So we try hard to think about things logically and practically so that we do not waste time…and so that we will have at least some fruit for our labors.
This passage chronicles a tremendous waste of time. In fact, in our lives, we are continually guilty of wasting valuable time and emotional energy on one thing: Worry.
It has rightly been noted that worry is like a rocking chair, it doesn’t get you anywhere, but it gives you something to do in the meantime!
In our account, Mary and Joseph are worried about Jesus. There are two ways to look at the “worry” of Mary and Joseph:
1) The Natural Perspective
As a mother, it is very natural for Mary and Joseph to be concerned when they can not find their son. If you show me a mother who is not concerned for her children, then I will show you a mother who neglects her children. God gives mothers what is called the “maternal instinct”. That is what makes a mother love, care for, and protect her children.
It is very natural for Mary…and Joseph to be worried.
2) The Supernatural Perspective
On the other hand…who is Jesus? He is the son of God…He is Immanuel…He is the Messiah…He is God in the Flesh…He is God. From man’s perspective we understand the worry of Mary and Joseph. But from God’s perspective, this worry is a waste of time. Why? Because Mary and Joseph are worried about God.
Think about that…Being worried about God. Does God need us to care about Him )? Does God need us to protect Him? Even if He did, what could we do about it? Absolutely nothing.
In fact, if God needs us to worry about Him…He’s not God, and this universe is in trouble!
Some give Mary and Joseph a hard time saying, “They should have known the Messiah…the Son of God would be in the temple doing the work of His Father!” Well, let’s take it a little easy on Mary and Joseph. They are very godly people. Mary was most likely the godliest woman who ever lived, and every thing we read about Joseph makes him sound equally right with the Lord. But they are human…and as humans our first instinct in times of trouble is an enormous waste of our time…it is worry!
Let’s look at our natural desire to worry and see how God wants to free us of the futility of worry:
1. The Condition of Worry.
Worry is a fear, stress, or anxiety over situations in our life. We are all well aware of worry. But not all worry is wrong…not all worry is sin:
Worry is not wrong when it is based on…
A. Rational Fear
Rational fear is more than having a “good reason” to be afraid. A rational fear is based on a logical or rational conclusion that there is something in your future to be afraid of!
When I was a child, I would chase my sister with a baseball bat. Just for fun I would corner her and swing the bat at her, and see how close I could get without hitting her…and I never did hit her…by the way. But she would always manage to get away…and I knew where she was heading. I would hear her telling on me! At that moment I was overcome with rational fear. My fear was very reasonable.
Another type of rational fear is the stress that comes from not working. If we all stopped working, in a month or two, our homes, cars, and much of our furniture would be repossessed. We would e homeless and we would barely be able to feed our families. That would cause a lot of stress, anxiety, and worry…to be sure. But is that worry bad? No…that worry should motivate us to get a job and provide for our family.
B. Irrational Fear
Irrational fear is a fear we have for no logical reason, and/or it is a fear that is not even based in reality.
An example of an irrational fear is the fear of being abducted by aliens…unless you re talking about illegal aliens. The fear of UFO’s is irrational because aliens and extraterrestrial beings do not exist.
I do not want to help you justify your worry this morning…because, for the person who has trusted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, all of our fears are irrational fears, so all of our worry is irrational. Here is what I mean:
1) God Does not Cause the Fear that Produces Worry:
2 Timothy 1:7 “ For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”
1 John 4:18 “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.”
2) God Has Promised to Completely Care for Our Every Need:
Philippians 4:19 “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”
2. The Cause of Worry.
Worry is caused when we fear what will happen to us. We try and do every thing we can to change the situation, and in the end, all of our worry and all of our effort is futile. It amounts to nothing! Have you every thought about what God thinks when we worry?
A. Worry is an Insult to the Grace and Goodness of God.
We have already seen the promises of God. He promised to take care of every need we would ever have! So when we worry we show one of two things: Either we are ignorant of the truth of the word of God…or we simply believe we can care for ourselves better than God can. In which case:
B. Worry is Assuming the Responsibility and Expectations of God.
Now, as a Christian I have certain responsibilities. God expects me to make the right choices, and He has promised to give me the wisdom to know what the right choice is:
James 1:5 “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.”
So when I choose to trust myself rather than God I assume the responsibility of God. When mortality assumes the responsibility of immortality…when humanity accepts the expectations that only deity can bear…we will certainly be crushed by worry, fear, anxiety, and stress!
Why are Christians so stressed out? We are trying to do the job of God!
C. Worry is a Lack of Faith, or Dependence on God.
We can call worry a lot of things, and we can classify the many different genres of worry, but in the end worry is a choice to not depend on God!
3. The Cure for Worry.
A. We Must Understand the Nature of God.
What did Jesus say to His mother? “Why are you looking for me…didn’t you know that I must be about my Father’s business?” Jesus was asking if they truly understood who He was. What is the implication? If you know who God is, and you know what He is about, then there is no rational reason for you not to believe in Him.
Do you understand that God is Good and Gracious? Do you understand that He loves you and cares enough about you that He crucified His son in order to keep your soul out of Hell? Do you understand that God has promised that He will never put more on you than you can bear?
B. We Must Accept the Nature of God.
We must accept God…for us this morning we must accept that God is loving, gracious and wanting to meet he needs in our life.
Do you have a debit card? God’s grace and care for us is like having a debit card. When we have a need we just swipe the debit card of prayer, and we access the incredible riches of the grace of God.
C. We Must Depend on the Nature of God.
Are you depending on God, or are you worrying. You aren’t doing both…because worry and faith are opposite extremes. Just like you can be in two places at the same time…you cannot have faith and worry existing in your life simultaneously.
Simply choose to believe God will take care of you, an let Him worry about your future!
FEAR LEADS TO DEATH:
During the Gulf War of 1991, Iraq launched a series of Scud missile attacks against Israel. Many Israeli citizens died as a result of these attacks. After the war was over, Israeli scientists analyzed the official mortality statistics and found something remarkable. Although the death rate had jumped among Israeli citizens on the first day of the Iraqi attacks, the vast majority of them did not die from any direct physical effects of the missiles. They died from heart failure brought on by fear and stress associated with the bombardment.
Psychological studies conducted on Israelis at the time showed that the most stressful time was the first few days leading up to the outbreak of war on January 17 and peaking on the first day of the Scud missile attacks. There was enormous and well-founded concern about possible Iraqi use of chemical and biological weapons. The government had issued to the entire Israeli population gas masks and automatic atropine syringes in case of chemical attack, and every household had been told to prepare a sealed room.
After the first Iraqi strike turned out to be less cataclysmic than feared, levels of stress declined markedly. As in other wars, the people adapted to the situation with surprising speed. Then as the fear and anxiety subsided, the death rate also declined. There were 17 further Iraqi missile attacks over the following weeks, but Israeli mortality figures over this period were no higher than average.
It was fear and the psychological impact of the missiles, not the physical impact, that claimed the majority of victims.
Citation: Paul Martin, The Sickening Mind (HarperCollins, 1997), pp. 3-4; submitted by David Holdaway; Stonehaven, Kincardinshire, Scotland.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Obama Christianity
Can I be honest and say the election confused me? I myself can be considered a minority evangelical. I am almost one-eighth Native American (don’t call me an Indian…I don’t wear red dots and I love beef—it’s what’s for dinner!).
What confused me was the overwhelming way minority evangelicals voted for a candidate who diametrically opposed the evangelical view on right-to-life issues. I am neither Republican nor Democratic. I consider myself an American. When selecting a candidate, I begin with the people who reflect biblical ideals. From those choices, I then select a candidate based on his economic plans, foreign policy, and national defense strategy. I typically vote across the two-party lines. For me, anything less would be mentally lazy.
I do not pretend to judge the faith of our new president. I cannot know, from this distance, what guides and shapes his life. His relationship with God is between himself and God, and short of speaking to him in a private conversation, I cannot begin to know the existence of or nature of that relationship.
That being said, I do see conflict with his “Christianity” and mine. The Bible inferentially supports the concept of life beginning in the womb--and even at conception. Isaiah speaks of being called by God before birth. David spoke of his life while inside his mother’s body.
I emailed several of my Facebook friends –conservative, evangelical Christians—who supported Barack Obama. They were completely candid and confessed that their vote came based on racial issues and/or their dislike for Bush’s policy. So my question is: “When did political policy (for the evangelical) begin to trump core convictions?” or “When did we begin to identify ourselves as race, first, and Christians thereafter?” Dr. Martin Luther King established the vision for an America where race was not an issue—where people are judged by the character of their heart and not the color of their skin.
What has been revealed is that evangelicals do not have as many true convictions as we think. It appears that evangelicals are learning to compartmentalize their faith. We have learned to live with contradiction—a state of mind that can be very unhealthy. As Christians, we should not be “for” or “against” any candidate. We should be “for” certain ideals, and our votes should reflect something deeper than our skin, our financial portfolio, or our discomfort with war.
That being said, I pray for President Obama every day, I respect his authority to lead our government, and I will support him in the policy decisions that reflect wisdom, morality, and good judgment.—because these are biblical ideals. To do any less is un-American, or worse…un-Christian. No matter who is in office, God must be with us.
What confused me was the overwhelming way minority evangelicals voted for a candidate who diametrically opposed the evangelical view on right-to-life issues. I am neither Republican nor Democratic. I consider myself an American. When selecting a candidate, I begin with the people who reflect biblical ideals. From those choices, I then select a candidate based on his economic plans, foreign policy, and national defense strategy. I typically vote across the two-party lines. For me, anything less would be mentally lazy.
I do not pretend to judge the faith of our new president. I cannot know, from this distance, what guides and shapes his life. His relationship with God is between himself and God, and short of speaking to him in a private conversation, I cannot begin to know the existence of or nature of that relationship.
That being said, I do see conflict with his “Christianity” and mine. The Bible inferentially supports the concept of life beginning in the womb--and even at conception. Isaiah speaks of being called by God before birth. David spoke of his life while inside his mother’s body.
I emailed several of my Facebook friends –conservative, evangelical Christians—who supported Barack Obama. They were completely candid and confessed that their vote came based on racial issues and/or their dislike for Bush’s policy. So my question is: “When did political policy (for the evangelical) begin to trump core convictions?” or “When did we begin to identify ourselves as race, first, and Christians thereafter?” Dr. Martin Luther King established the vision for an America where race was not an issue—where people are judged by the character of their heart and not the color of their skin.
What has been revealed is that evangelicals do not have as many true convictions as we think. It appears that evangelicals are learning to compartmentalize their faith. We have learned to live with contradiction—a state of mind that can be very unhealthy. As Christians, we should not be “for” or “against” any candidate. We should be “for” certain ideals, and our votes should reflect something deeper than our skin, our financial portfolio, or our discomfort with war.
That being said, I pray for President Obama every day, I respect his authority to lead our government, and I will support him in the policy decisions that reflect wisdom, morality, and good judgment.—because these are biblical ideals. To do any less is un-American, or worse…un-Christian. No matter who is in office, God must be with us.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
On the Brink?
“Whoa!” I said—not to myself—but loud enough for everyone to hear. I nearly slipped as I carefully meandered down a zigzagging trail at the Grand Canyon National Park. I was shocked to find out our trail was only a couple of feet wide with absolutely no handles, handrails, etc.
I looked around and thought to myself, “I’m right on the edge. What do I grab if I slip?” I looked at April. We had only been married for a year now. I thought, “If I slip, I’ll grab her.” Just one problem, she was about 5 feet tall and only about 115 pounds. I didn’t really like my odds. I knew she would grab me and hold on. After all, I didn’t have a life insurance policy. I just thought one of us should survive to tell the story.
I did notice that every 10 or 20 feet there were these small half-bush, half-tree shrubs jutting out of the cliffs and rocks. “Great.” I mused. “If I do slip…and manage to grab this Arizona ‘bonsai’…my life will utterly depend on my grip and the root structure of Charlie Brown’s Christmas tree.”
It’s a little intimidating…on the brink. The view is gorgeous and exhilarating—but the edge…the rim…the brink—can be terrifying. The brink of faith is no different. Now humor me for a moment. What about God? The possibility of God’s existence demands that we take a closer look at belief, rather than just “blow it off” or save the discussion for a “rainy day.”
If God does not exist, then there is no problem, no harm, no foul, and no “mea culpa.” Go and live life—get all that you can and “can” all that you get. If this is all that there is, then by all means enjoy it without hurting others.
But if God does exist, then that’s a whole new ball game. If God exists, he is bigger than us and we are ultimately responsible to Him. He must have some sort of reason for putting me here—else my life and His effort is a colossal waste of cosmic time.
Of course I did not die on the edge of the Grand Canyon that summer day. In fact, I was with a group of teenagers who literally ran the course—with no fear of how close they were to danger. I have often wondered why they were not afraid. I tend to believe they were not afraid, because they had been on the edge of the canyon before. They had been on the brink and lived to tell about. Of course, the more plausible explanation is that they were too young for their brains to have fully developed enough to be concerned about the danger.
In any case, I have been on the brink of faith. Maybe I’ll share that some time. I was not born in a Christian home. I remember life without faith in God. I have stood on the edge and have been absolutely terrified. But now I run that trail…because I have been here before. What about you? Where are you?
I looked around and thought to myself, “I’m right on the edge. What do I grab if I slip?” I looked at April. We had only been married for a year now. I thought, “If I slip, I’ll grab her.” Just one problem, she was about 5 feet tall and only about 115 pounds. I didn’t really like my odds. I knew she would grab me and hold on. After all, I didn’t have a life insurance policy. I just thought one of us should survive to tell the story.
I did notice that every 10 or 20 feet there were these small half-bush, half-tree shrubs jutting out of the cliffs and rocks. “Great.” I mused. “If I do slip…and manage to grab this Arizona ‘bonsai’…my life will utterly depend on my grip and the root structure of Charlie Brown’s Christmas tree.”
It’s a little intimidating…on the brink. The view is gorgeous and exhilarating—but the edge…the rim…the brink—can be terrifying. The brink of faith is no different. Now humor me for a moment. What about God? The possibility of God’s existence demands that we take a closer look at belief, rather than just “blow it off” or save the discussion for a “rainy day.”
If God does not exist, then there is no problem, no harm, no foul, and no “mea culpa.” Go and live life—get all that you can and “can” all that you get. If this is all that there is, then by all means enjoy it without hurting others.
But if God does exist, then that’s a whole new ball game. If God exists, he is bigger than us and we are ultimately responsible to Him. He must have some sort of reason for putting me here—else my life and His effort is a colossal waste of cosmic time.
Of course I did not die on the edge of the Grand Canyon that summer day. In fact, I was with a group of teenagers who literally ran the course—with no fear of how close they were to danger. I have often wondered why they were not afraid. I tend to believe they were not afraid, because they had been on the edge of the canyon before. They had been on the brink and lived to tell about. Of course, the more plausible explanation is that they were too young for their brains to have fully developed enough to be concerned about the danger.
In any case, I have been on the brink of faith. Maybe I’ll share that some time. I was not born in a Christian home. I remember life without faith in God. I have stood on the edge and have been absolutely terrified. But now I run that trail…because I have been here before. What about you? Where are you?
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