In 2002 a college buddy
and I took a trip to the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. We got to be
spectators at a biathlon, short track speed skating, bobsledding, some downhill
slalom, and cross-country skiing events. On top of the events themselves, one
night we were able to attend a medal ceremony downtown. A lot of the other
nights we’d go visit downtown, because that’s where a ton of stuff was going
on. We were able to watch the jumbotron set up in the city to keep up to speed
on whatever key events were going on that night. Overall, it was very cool
stuff.
In some of the venues we were able to get super close to the athletes or tracks. At the biathlon we actually had to be careful, because we were close enough to get hit in the face with ski poles. Same thing with bobsledding…we could get close enough to reach out and touch the sled as it raced past.
I didn’t really think about
it at the time, but athletes from across the globe that participated in the
same sport had similar builds or strengths. Hockey players and bobsledders
tended to be large and muscular, while short track competitors tended to be a
little shorter with more slender builds. Cross-country skiing competitors
seemed to be consistently above average height, and figure skaters cultivated
grace and agility rather than a muscular physique.
I’m over 6 feet tall,
but under 200 pounds. A little bit on the lanky side, I’m physically better
suited to play first base or quarterback more than I am to be a catcher or an
offensive lineman. I’ve got more potential in the sports of basketball,
volleyball, or tennis than I do in the sports of wrestling, powerlifting, or
marathon-running.
If I were bent on
becoming a professional athlete, I could lament the fact that I’m not built for
success in certain areas, or I could try my best to be successful in the areas
where I could excel.
It’s the same thing
with serving Christ. There are some functions in Christianity where the role
has a higher (or more desirable) profile than others. If you’re built and
equipped for one function though, don’t lament the fact that you’re not set up
for success in another. There’s a reason you have certain tendencies,
attitudes, instincts, spiritual gifts, and interests. You were designed and intended to fill a certain
role; by focusing on fulfilling a different role, you’re actually detracting
from the one you want to escape and
the one you want to attain.
Don’t run away from the
role you were born to fill. Embrace it, then watch God work through you.
I’m gonna skip ahead a
little bit on our Olympic adventure.
My buddy and I woke up at a rest stop on our first day in Utah after snoozing in sleeping bags in the car. Our breath had condensed and frozen on the windows overnight. We were only about an hour away from Salt Lake City. After all the driving of the past two days, we were excited to be so close, so we got ready for the day and headed out.
Our breath condensed and froze on the car’s windows overnight
Just arriving in the
area was thrilling. Olympic signs and venues were all over the place. Ski
jumps, the Olympic rings, extra decorations, it was great. As we drove on the
highway through the city, a lot of the buildings were decorated with massive
posters of winter sports. We drove into the city, parked, and walked around
downtown, happy to be done driving long distances for a bit. The weather was
gorgeous; sunny and warm. We saw the Mormon Temple, some of the other local
sights, got some donuts, and toured the State Capitol, where there was a
traveling exhibit of the Declaration of Independence.
We were super excited
to finally be at our destination, but we still had to figure out where we were
going to sleep that night. A little after noon we drove out of the city and
toward some public land. As it turns out, the public land in that area is much
higher in elevation. Added elevation brings lower temperatures and more snow.
As we drew near the place we intended to camp, we stopped at a ranger station to get some more info. Following their directions, we drove until reaching the end of the line; past a certain point they stopped plowing the road. Snowmobiles were all over the place. The only other way in was on foot.
It’s on foot from here
My buddy parked the car
in the parking lot and the two of us broke out our cross-country skis. Between
the weather and the time of day, visibility was starting to drop and it was going
to start getting dark soon. We needed to find a campsite quickly, and we didn’t
have time to be too choosy about what spot to use. The two of us skied in, found
a spot, then skied back out to the car to grab our gear. We were both decent
skiers at the time, but neither of us had ever skied with heavy packs before.
They throw off your balance and make it much trickier!
We returned to our site and stomped down the snow to make a spot for the tent. We set up the tent, broke out the stove, and started heating up dinner while unpacking and arranging the rest of our gear for the night. Between not having much to do after dark and still being accustomed to East Coast time, we cracked open and tossed some footwarmers into the sleeping bags and were in for the night a little after 7:30 pm.
Just as a refresher, up
until this point in my life the only other time I remember sleeping outside was
in a tent in a neighbor’s backyard in the summer as a kid. Now I’m sleeping in
a tent in the Wasatch Mountains in February as the snow/sleet falls around us. After
sleeping in a car for the past two nights, it was a nice change to be able to stretch
out all the way. I slept pretty well until the coyotes started howling later at
night. For anyone accustomed to hearing them, you know that there’s nothing to
worry about, but if you’re not used to them, you start wondering just how long
it will take for a determined coyote to rip through a flimsy tent.
I’d be lying if I told
you that I wasn’t afraid of doing what we were doing. It’s one thing to talk
like you’re going to do something that stretches you, but it’s something else
entirely to do it. Driving from New York to Utah is an adventure in itself, but
at least during that whole time, you’ve got a car…with heat, a roof, and a
trunk full of stuff. Now we had a tent, sleeping bags, and whatever we could
carry in our packs, and we set up camp in a spot that, for all we knew, was at
the bottom of a mountain that was ready to trigger an avalanche. And it was snowing.
Why on earth would I do
this?
I was willing to do it
because this was a once-in-a-lifetime chance. I refused to be left behind. I was
in college with few or no other responsibilities, the Winter Olympics were
happening in my country, I had the opportunity to go see them, and I had a
friend that was willing to do the same crazy thing. In the 17 years since that
trip, no similar opportunity has come around again for me.
For just a moment, think
about your life and the choices you regret. Often the things that come to mind first
are the things you did not do. For everyone,
even Christ-followers, there are things you wish you would’ve done differently.
Think about the choices that lie before you now, or that you’ll have to address
soon. One day you might pause to reflect on them, too. At different times in
our lives, everyone’s got a “thing,” an idea that nags at them even when they
try to shake it. Many times this is God’s nudge, saying “hey, I want you to do
this.” You probably don’t know what will happen if you do it. Maybe you do. Some
day you might be in Heaven, talking face to face with the creator of the
universe. “Remember when I prompted you to do that thing?” If you have regrets about not
doing something now, imagine what it
will be like then.
Don’t feel bad about
being scared; everybody’s scared of something. Letting fear stop you from doing
or being a part of big things is where you start missing out. Don’t let a fear
of being fearful paralyze you and prevent you from taking the next step that God’s
called you to take.
Refuse to be left behind.
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Ready to drive across the country to watch the Winter Olympics
This entry took place almost exactly 17 years ago (just two days off).
It had finally arrived.
February of 2002 was here, and the Winter Olympics had finally begun. My
college roommate and I had been working on a plot to head out to see some of
the Olympics in Utah for about a year and a half, and now everyone in our house
was watching the opening ceremonies on TV.
All the gear was bought
and (mostly) tested. We had our tickets in hand. The numerous little pieces
were all falling into place, and in a week or so we would embark on a great
adventure.
We made final
preparations for the trip and filled our professors in on what we were about to
do. We checked and re-checked details about the trip. In those last days before
heading out, we watched all kinds of Olympic coverage; it didn’t matter what
was on. The guys in our house, getting into the spirit of things, would even
watch Curling, which none of us understood. (“YES! Wait…so was that good
or bad?”)
As our departure date
drew near, we assembled all our gear, packing and re-packing it to see how to
maximize use of the space we had. Some of our stuff would be nice to have, but
if we couldn’t fit it, it wasn’t going with us.
The day finally
arrived. We loaded up my little car with all of the supplies we were bringing.
There was barely room for the two of us to fit. We left before dawn.
The initial drive took
us from Western New York State to Pittsburgh, where we switched to a larger
rental car. From there it was pretty much a straight shot out West along Route
80 to Salt Lake City. We were excited. This was really happening; we were
really doing this!
Twelve hours later, we
were bored out of our minds.
It was over 2,000 miles
and more than 30 hours of driving to our destination. America is a beautiful
place, but it’s kinda drab in February. Ohio wasn’t much to look at. Indiana wasn’t
much different. It got dark when we were somewhere in Illinois, and we weren’t
going to stop for another few hours. We kept going until we hit Iowa after 16
hours of driving on day one, where we eventually found a rest stop and slept in
the car overnight.
It seemed like the most beautiful part of some states was a higher speed limit
The excitement had worn
off. A day that began with such immense promise and electricity became dull and
mundane. All the different radio stations seemed to play the same songs. There
wasn’t much scenery to enjoy as we drove. You didn’t need to eat much if all
you did was sit in a car all day. We snacked on stuff, but it was as much for having
something to do as it was for being hungry. The highlight of the drive that
first day was stopping at a Wendy’s for dinner. “Will that be for the
dining room, or would you like it to go?”
“NO! The dining
room, please!“
The Christian life can
be exciting. When you see yourself being used to fulfill God’s purposes,
there’s nothing quite like it. It’s thrilling to go on missions trips, start learning
about a Bible study topic that hits close to home, read a book about a subject
you’ve been wanting to learn more about, or go so far as to start a new project
or effort that’s been tugging at your heart. There are going to be times in those
journeys, though, where it gets dull, boring, or even becomes downright
drudgery.
In a previous post I includede the phrase “go until you get a no.” The drudgery isn’t a “no,” it’s just a way for you to get worn down and an excuse for you to give up. If you give up on a herculean effort because you lose interest or get discouraged, you’re not giving God the opportunity to move mountains. God’s sense of timing tends to be different from our own. If you felt sure that He called you to take on a task, and you went so far as to get started on it, shouldn’t you see it through? Shouldn’t you go until you get a “no?”
Hang in there at least a little longer. God has a way of showing up at just the right time.
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Ever think about how
you don’t need help getting into trouble? Ever notice how you don’t need to
teach kids to do bad stuff? For example, did you show them how to lie, or did
they just kind of figure that one out on their own?
My son has told us some
lies before. These were like, blatant, totally unprompted lies. He’s a little
more slick about it these days, but when he was just a little guy, he once said
“I don’t have anything in my mouth” after he got into a bag of chips
without our permission. His mouth was…you guessed it…full of chips! On
another occasion he was supposed to be up in his room napping. When he came
down, without us saying anything, he told us “I wasn’t looking out the
window.”
Dude, at least make it
hard for us.
Most of the time instructions
and laws seem to be phrased in negative terms. “Don’t lie.”
“Don’t cheat.” It’s much more rare to have laws that are positive in
nature. Most of the Ten Commandments are the same way. Only two of them are
phrased in the positive (remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy; respect
your father and mother).
Elsewhere in the Bible
God gives other instructions. Sometimes He says stuff that’s intuitive or
obvious. Other times He tells us stuff that maybe we’ve heard or read a few
times, but we still miss it even though it’s something we ought to know and
need some help learning.
Valentine’s Day presents the opportunity to reflect on
one such instruction.
In many marriages, you
can ask the husband “does your wife love you?” Often he’ll answer
“well, yeah, sure she does.” Probe a little further, though, and you
might identify a problem. “Does she respect you?” The answer probably
doesn’t come as quickly, and if he doesn’t feel as though his wife respects
him, there could be an issue.
Hang on though, guys, ‘cuz
you’re not perfect, either. Stick with me, there’s a Biblical basis for this. The
opposite is often true for wives. She might feel sufficiently respected, but
she might not quite feel loved. (There’s a difference between knowing you’re loved and feeling that you’re
loved.)
Regardless of whether
you’re a male or female breadwinner, “working all day just to put food on
the table and keep a roof over our heads” is great, but isn’t the only
thing your significant other needs from you.
If either one isn’t
getting what they need, that person is running at an emotional deficit. Wives,
maybe you respect your husbands, but he may not feel it. Husbands, of course
you love your wives, but you need to make her know it and believe it. For
everybody…your spouse needs what they need; just because you don’t feel like
you require extra love/respect doesn’t mean they can go without it. Don’t cut
them off from what they need just because you look at them through the prism of
you.
Take a look at the book
of Ephesians. In chapter 5, God tells us (in positive verbiage) what to do. He
doesn’t give us a “don’t,” he gives us a “do.” These days
the first part is easy to misconstrue as being outdated and part of the
“toxic masculinity” you hear about in men’s razor commercials. Don’t
twist it; read the whole thing. Right on the heels of talking about how to live
with and treat other Christians, the author turns his attention to household
relationships in verses 22-33.
22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.23 For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. 24 Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might [g]sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. 28 So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. 30 For we are members of His body, [h]of His flesh and of His bones. 31 “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. 33 Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
Note how it doesn’t say
“husbands, respect your wives,” or “wives, love your
husbands.” Why not? Because most of the time, those things aren’t the
shortfalls. We’re probably already doing them. This passage guides us to do
something that doesn’t come naturally.
There’s a whole study
on this topic called “Love and Respect” by Emerson Eggerichs. I’ve
never read the book, but the DVD series was phenomenal. “Pink and
Blue…not wrong…just different.” Great stuff for a small group setting
or Sunday School class.
If you haven’t been
offering what your spouse needs, and then you start providing it, watch how
powerful an agent it can be. Flowers and chocolates are great and all, but how
about this year, you make a concerted effort to deliver what your spouse or
significant other really needs?
Happy Valentine’s Day!
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In this blog I like to
talk about coming up with new ways to employ the gifts God’s given you for the
purpose of reaching people in ways that aren’t already been done. Here’s an
example.
These days it’s
becoming more common to open satellite churches. Usually what that means is
that there’s a main campus where the preacher physically delivers a sermon, and
it’s broadcast live (or on a delay) to other satellite churches in the network.
Those remote churches normally have an on-site staff, including a pastor (who
is not delivering a sermon, but is there to support the members of the
congregation), worship leaders, and all the volunteers that are needed to pull
off a functioning church service.
Gateway Church in Texas
recently announced that it was opening a new satellite campus. On the surface,
this isn’t anything unusual, but this particular venue is more difficult for
average folks to get to.
Gateway Church’s new
remote site is in the state’s largest maximum security prison.
They’ve hired someone
to be the campus pastor for this particular location, and there are others who
help every week, but just about everyone else who works to ensure the services
function is an inmate. Ushers, greeters, guys setting up, guys tearing down,
worship leaders, audio/video staff…all inmates.
The ways people are currently
reaching the lost are not the only ways to do it. There are tons of other ways
to do it that haven’t been started, but either nobody’s thought of it yet, or
nobody’s willing to do it. When it comes to reaching people for Christ, you
might be the only person on this entire planet that has the ideas you do. Don’t
let those ideas die on the vine.
You have talent; you
have ideas; you have value. For the sake of Christ’s kingdom and the people who
aren’t yet in it, please share those things with others.
I can’t even tell you
how many people I’ve heard complain about this past week’s Super Bowl. The
lowest-scoring Super Bowl ever…boring to watch…least exciting game in the
history of the championship.
Let’s say all of that’s true. Let’s say it was a drag to watch. Does any of that change the outcome for even one second? Tom Brady has now won over 10% of all the Super Bowls that have ever been played. Coach Bill Belichick, with eight rings and 12 Super Bowl appearances (even though they were with two different teams and they weren’t all as head coach), has been to over 22% of the Super Bowls to date. (This past Monday I heard one Patriots fan say that Sunday’s Super Bowl was the sixth best game ever!)
People who complain about how dull the game was fail to
appreciate what actually happened.
Let’s pretend you’re on one of the two teams who played in the big game, and
let’s go back in time two weeks. You’ve won your conference championship game
and you know who your opponent is going to be. You can now study up on their
strengths/weaknesses and start assembling a strategy to overcome them by
playing to your strengths.
Both teams have
high-powered offenses. In order to have a chance to win, you need to figure out
a way to shut down your opponent’s scoring ability while exploiting the
weaknesses in their defenses to maximize your own scoring opportunities.
The fact that this was the lowest-scoring Super Bowl ever
(where both teams combined only scored a single touchdown and three field goals)
is a testament to the preparation, planning, and skill of both teams’ defenses. The casual observer doesn’t really appreciate that
fact though; all they see is a low-scoring game that drags on. Neither team’s
defensive efforts get much attention or recognition in the replays.
The cameras didn’t show
it very much, but it’s important to realize that the whole time a team’s
offense was on the field, the coaches, coordinators, and other staff were
helping the defense prepare for the next time they took the field. Not exciting
stuff for a spectator, but crucial if you want to win the game. I’m sure the
last thing those personnel were concerned about was whether the game was
exciting to watch on TV.
The Christian life is
often like that. The glamorous jobs are the ones that get the attention, but
things wouldn’t succeed without all the behind-the-scenes work. Every
Christ-follower has been given spiritual gifts. Each person has a different
combination of them. Some of them are high-profile. It’s the pastor, teacher,
or leader that you see in positions of authority or taking charge. You might be
surprised at the difference made by the ones you don’t see. Not only are there
people that serve in places like church services or the kids’ program (do you
have any idea how aggravating it can be to teach a Sunday School class to a
bunch of 4th-grade boys?), but there are people that use their gifts outside of
the church building as well. These people might arrange meals for someone in
need, drive an elderly neighbor somewhere they need to go, anonymously deliver
some cash when it’s needed most, or any good deed that goes unnoticed or
unrewarded.
These are the people
that make life work for those with a need. Everyone can make a difference, but
these silent servants almost never get recognized.
If you’re one of these
people…thank you. A lot of what you do goes unnoticed, so thank you.
You received spiritual
gifts when you became a believer. I don’t know which ones they are, but I know
you have them. You might wish you had a different set of them. Don’t think of
it that way. The ones you have are there for a reason. I encourage you…get
out there and use them. The world is waiting for you to use them in your own
unique way.
Rumor has it there’s a pretty big football game coming up this weekend. With that in mind, I’m going to rely on a “guest contributor” for today’s post. (I’m really just stealing from his website.) Tony Evans writes:
In a football game, the players tower over the referees. The
players are bigger, stronger and more powerful than the older, smaller
and, often, out-of- shape referees. In a game, the players can use their
power to knock you down, but the referees can use their authority to put you
out of the game.
Never confuse power with
authority.
Satan may be able to knock you down. He has more power than you.
But he has absolutely no authority over you if you’re a believer. Of
course, Satan knows that, but he doesn’t want you to know it. So, Satan
tries to intimidate with lies and pressure and to deceive you into believing
he has authority over you.
On the cross, Jesus Christ deactivated, dismantled and disarmed
Satan’s rule over sin and death (Colossians 2:13-15). God gave the
ultimate authority to His Son. He has placed all things in subjection to
Jesus.
One of the reasons we often don’t live in light of this truth is
because we confuse the terms “power” and “authority.” Satan still has
power. He still dominates the world in which we live and influences
people’s lives in countless ways. His tactics are both real and destructive.
But what he doesn’t have is final authority. Jesus has the authority.
Jesus is exalted “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion”
(Ephesians 1:21).
Satan has no authority or power over the one who is aligned
under the covering of the risen and exalted Christ. This is why Satan will
try long and hard to hinder the one who has an abiding relationship with
Jesus. He knows if he can get you to ignore the authority and rule of Christ
in your day-to- day activities and decisions, he can deceive, trick and
harm you however he chooses. Yet acknowledging and remaining under Christ’s
lordship and authority will protect you from Satan’s onslaught.
God “made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been
saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly
places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:5-6).
When Christ died, you died with him. When Christ arose, you
arose with Him. When Christ sat down at the right hand of the Father, you
sat down with Him. In other words, you were made to function in concert
and cadence with Christ. For you to gain access to the authority which
comes through the perfect union of Jesus Christ—bringing heaven to bear on
earth—you must abide in Him. To abide means to dwell, to align your
thoughts, choices and perspective under God’s thoughts, choices and
perspective. It means connecting with Him and honoring Him in everything
you do. God doesn’t want weekend visits with His kids; He wants full custody.
This is such an important part of the victorious Christian life.
You can go to all of the church services you want, read all the spiritual
books you want, even do all the Bible studies that you want, but
experiencing all God has planned for you comes only through aligning yourself
under and abiding in the one who reigns over all, the exalted Lord Jesus
Christ.
I hope you’ve either
enjoyed or gotten something out of the things that show up on DareGreatlyNow. Now
that I’ve posted over 30 entries on the website, it makes a little more sense
to explain a bit about it and how the site is laid out.
On and off over the
years I’ve had flashes of an idea that is currently embodied in this website.
At first I thought about doing a book, then it morphed into some type of
devotional, and then it showed up here. The short version is that I’ve seen and
done an unusual combination of things over my life so far, or gained unique
insights as a result of doing the things I’ve done. Many of the stories I
relate in the pages of this website are stories that ought to have become faint
memories, but for some reason they haven’t yet faded away. In writing so far,
those memories have come to the forefront and I’ve been able to tie a godly or
spiritual application to them.
Sometimes in life
you’ll encounter unusual circumstances that don’t make much sense until you’re
looking back at them in hindsight. Before you get to that retrospective moment
it can just seem like a disjointed collection of random experiences, but then
something happens to bring it all together.
This is how God works.
Not only does He weave your life’s experiences into a plan (or even a
masterpiece) for His purposes, He also weaves together the experiences of your
life with those of other people’s lives.
Have you ever felt like
you were meant for more than just the life you’re living? When you felt that
way, you probably were meant for more! You might even be
feeling that way right now. Even though the stories on this site jump around
all over the place, the central theme to which they all point is the idea that
God didn’t intend for you to live a life of mediocrity.
If you’re willing, you can accept the invitation, the
challenge, that God has extended to you. You can be a mighty warrior for Jesus
Christ.
That concept can be
fulfilled through many different avenues. If you believe the Bible, you believe
that this world will get darker before it gets lighter. Yet the Bible says that
despite all of that, the Church is still God’s plan to reach the lost. We don’t
seek to conquer or subjugate anyone, or bludgeon them into converting to
Christianity. We’ve simply been commanded to share the news of Christ with
everyone. What they do with it is up to them.
The stories posted here
are meant to encourage…to inspire…to show that big and daring things are
not beyond your reach. Although it is not my aim, it may sometimes sound like
I’m petitioning to be the next spokesman for some kind of energy drink. 🙂 I’ve
written so far about experiences in the Air Force, having a house knocked out
from under me, lifeguarding experiences, going kayaking, flying down a steep
hill on a skateboard as a kid, rappelling out of trees or down cliffs,
adventures in parenting, and figuring out how to go see the Winter Olympics.
Some of the things I
expect to address in the future include more experiences in pursuit of survival
instructor status, medical emergencies, skydiving, an adventure sports trip to
Australia, kayaking over waterfalls, a few near-death experiences, some
kneeboarding, and of course more parenting stories.
These stories are all
meant to say that you can do things you think you can’t. Hopefully they’re done
in an entertaining way. I hope to encourage you to embrace the idea that God
has empowered you to go as far as you’d like with regard to accomplishing
things for His kingdom, and that the limits you impose on yourself or allow to
be imposed on you are not your actual limits. The only limits that exist are
the ones you allow to take hold.
If you haven’t already,
I’d love for you to subscribe, but in truth, I’d love even more for you to pass
individual entries on to people that you think would benefit from hearing them.
The Church today is in a strange place, where it needs to both keep reaching
people through traditional means while at the same time evolving to communicate
with people in new ways to convey the same truth. If you know someone who’s
thinking about moving out in support of one of these directions, by all means
please point them to this blog.
Now that the site has a
decent number of entries, I’ll explain the categories and tags. When you look
at an individual post, down at the bottom of every entry it has categories and
tags listed. For every post, I try to list it under two categories: one that
tells the type of activity it is, and one that tells the spiritual lesson it’s
geared toward. If you look at the site’s homepage, all the available categories
are listed. If you wanted to see all entries I’ve written that have something
to do with stories about my kids, for example, click on “Parenthood.”
Clicking on “God Can Use You More Than You Think He Can” will bring
up all the entries I’ve listed under that category.
Tags do more or less
the same thing, but through a different way and by naming different topics. The
more entries I post over time, the more useful tags and categories will become
if you’re seeking a specific post.
So you tell me…what
do you like about the site so far? What do you dislike? Are the stories too
long? I post on Monday and Thursday mornings; is that too much? Not often
enough? How can I help get people off the sidelines and into the game? How can
I reach more people so they can be encouraged to live a life of higher impact?
How can I get Christians to believe that they have an unparalleled power living
inside them, waiting for them to unlock its potential?
Your comments are
welcome! If you don’t want to comment publicly where everyone can see it, email
me at tim@daregreatlynow.com.
When I was in college I majored in biology. It wasn’t pre-med biology though; the program was geared more for a career in wildlife management or forestry. As a result, I had a lot of courses that had interesting field trips. We radio-tracked deer, did forest surveys, went behind the scenes at a zoo, toured a fish hatchery, visited botanical gardens, and generally spent a lot of time in the fields of western New York during all parts of the school year.
One of our professors knew a guy that worked for the state’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), which opened the door for us to do some neat stuff. As it turns out, a farmer probably an hour away had discovered a black bear hibernating in one of the big round hay bales in his field. The farmer invited the DEQ to come and survey the situation, which would add data to the organization’s knowledge of the bear population in the area. Our class got to go along and observe.
We arrived at the farm and waited a safe distance away while the DEQ folks tranquilized the bear. (When bears hibernate, they’re not in a solid, deep sleep the whole time; they wake up and move around on warm days, so they had to make sure it wasn’t going to do anything unexpected.) I’m not sure what method they used to do it, but after they stuck the bear, it got scared and took off running. It probably made it 100 yards before it stopped running and laid down. The farmer and DEQ folks then gently loaded it into the bucket of a tractor and brought it back to the area right in front of the den, where they weighed it, checked its teeth, determined its age, and collected some other information.
It’s a tricky thing to tranquilize something when you don’t know how much it weighs. If you use too little tranquilizer, the bear’s going to start moving sooner than you’d like, but if you use too much, you’ll have a hard time reviving the bear. Whoever was responsible for this part did a good job, but you’re never quite sure if the estimate is going to be good enough. As a precaution, they used a bandana to cover the bear’s eyes after they had laid it down on the ground. The thinking was that as the bear began regaining consciousness, it would stay a little more calm if it couldn’t see how close all these people were. Keeping it more calm would hopefully prevent it from trying to lash out without even having regained full control of its body, which could be harmful for both us and the bear.
It didn’t take very long for the DEQ folks to collect all the desired information, so after they finished they pretty much just needed to monitor the bear until the tranquilizer wore off. In the mean time they let people take pictures with the bear. After a bit, they shooed us all away because they didn’t know how much longer the drugs would last. We left to head back to school, and we found out later that as the last DEQ employees were getting ready to depart, the bear started growling. (If that’s not a “time to go!” signal, I’m not sure what is.)
Have you ever asked God to let you know what’s going to happen if you proceed in a certain direction, only to be met with increased murkiness? He might just do that on purpose. A lot of times it’s because we can’t handle knowing what’s on the other side. You don’t know what will happen if you obey, but if you did, you might not follow through with what you know you’re supposed to do. That might be because you believe the personal cost of the outcome will be too great, or it might be because you’d be overwhelmed with seeing just how far beyond you your actions will go and it just seems too daunting to begin. Either way, the result is the same: you’re not setting out on the calling God has laid before you. In many cases, we’re better off being kept “blindfolded,” like the bear, because too much information will actually be detrimental.
Instead try this. Think of your obedience to God’s calling in terms of chapters, rather than as a pamphlet. You need to find out what happens in one chapter before moving on to the next. By the end of the book, you’ll have the whole picture, but if you had started out knowing what happens in the end, some of the important stuff that happened in the middle would lose its significance or change the outcome.
It might feel as though you know what God’s prodding you to do, but it seems insignificant. Well, that might be true, but part of the reason for that is because you might just be starting a new book. You’re blindfolded right now, but don’t just lay there growling. Step out in obedience and faith; chapter two is waiting for you, but you can’t start it until you finish chapter one.
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Our youngest child is
at the stage where she still has bad dreams fairly often. She wakes up crying
during the night, and my wonderful wife usually goes running into her room to
try to settle her down before she wakes up anyone else in the house.
A few mornings ago my
daughter woke up crying. I was already awake, laying in bed, when I heard the
cry begin. I jumped out of bed before my wife started stirring, trying to
return the favor. I went into my daughter’s room and told her “Daddy’s
here now.” I brushed her hair out of her face, rubbed her shoulder, and
kissed her cheek. She calmed down and we prayed, but she wasn’t settled. I stayed
with her a little bit longer, and then went back to bed.
Laying there for a bit,
it wasn’t long before I heard her little feet came walking into our room. But she
didn’t come walking over to my side. She made a beeline right for Mommy. My
wife talked and cuddled with her a little bit, then brought her back to bed and
got her tucked and settled in, where she stayed for the rest of the night.
How many of us are like
that? Whether we like to admit it or not, there’s a God-shaped hole in all of
us. We’re restless until it’s filled. We try to fill the hole with different things…anything.
For some it can be destructive things; alcohol, drugs, relationships that
aren’t built to last, more serious types of crime, or even dark spiritual
things. Others try to fill it with things that might be good, but don’t quite quench
the thirst. Making more money, performing charity work, being very active in
community groups, donating your time/energy/resources to civic or political
causes you believe in, etc.
The problem is, those things are like Daddy trying to settle his daughter in for the night after a bad dream. They might serve as temporary solutions, but they don’t bring a peace that lasts.
To fill the God-shaped
hole in your life, only Christ will satisfy.
