Category: God Can Use You More Than You Think He Can

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Don’t Rob the World of it…

The church we attend is fortunate to have a large amount of musical talent among its congregation.

Each week the church holds multiple services, so it’s asking a lot for the same people to be on the worship team week after week for all the services. Volunteers from the congregation stepped up, and as a result the worship team has a good amount of “bench strength.”

When the team is leading worship, there are usually a lot of people on stage. Normally there are two keyboardists, three or four guitarists, a drummer, and some singers. There’s a lot happening during a given song.

I’m not sure why, it’s probably the amount of movement, but my eye is always drawn to the drummer. Like any other role on the worship team, there are different types of people that play the drums. All of them can keep the beat just fine, but while some of them look calm and in complete control of the rhythm, others play with intensity and look like they’re out of breath and are right on the edge of losing musical control.

I always enjoy when one young man in particular takes his turn at the drums. Not only are his arms flailing around in perfect timing, smashing his instruments, but his head also bobs to help keep the beat. At the same time his facial expression conveys his sheer passion for the task.

The drums and cymbals our church uses are electronic; I’m guessing that someone made the decision to use electronic cymbals so that metal ones don’t overpower the rest of the worship team. They make less noise when the drumsticks physically strike them, and the sound system adds it in to the overall mix coming out of the speakers. When I’m sitting in the congregation and this guy is drumming, I can clearly hear the sound of his drumsticks slapping the cymbals no matter where I sit in the room.

This is someone that’s doing what he was created to do, and it’s a joy to behold.

We’re all created with gifts. I heard someone describe a gift as “the thing you do the best with the least amount of effort.” You might make a living from it, but not necessarily. For some people, standing up in front of a group and teaching is something that comes naturally, but for others that idea is terrifying. Some people are amazing hosts/hostesses. It’s possible to be an incredibly empathetic conversationalist and have an occupation where that skill isn’t used at all.

Your gift might be something you think is absurd, or even worthless. It doesn’t matter how you feel about it, but I’ll tell you that you’ll feel satisfaction in using your gifts to glorify God. If you make amazing fried chicken…fry it while giving God glory. If mowing grass in cool patterns comes naturally to you, mow it like there’s no tomorrow. If you write computer code or create algorithms effortlessly, write and create with passion! There’s no telling how your gift will combine with others that are using their gifts, and what that will result in.

What were you created to do? The more important question is: are you doing it? (What good is a drum that can’t be played, or a Lamborghini that sits in the garage?)

The drummer in our church isn’t changing lives or saving souls by playing the drums. I can only imagine though, that if it’s fun for me, an ordinary guy, to watch him play, our Heavenly Father is smiling even bigger to see one of his beloved children employ the talents entrusted to him to pursue his calling. Wouldn’t you like to bring the same kind of smile to God’s face?

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Were You AIMING for the Bridge? (Part 1 of 2)

Lots of rain that week…

This week’s posts took place at roughly this time one July. I got certified as a lifeguard very late in the summer when I was 15, so I didn’t get much experience actually working on duty that year. The next summer was different.

The Christian conference center where I worked not only had two pools that needed lifeguards, but it also conducted waterfront activities on the Delaware River. It had a boat that guests could use for waterskiing and tubing, but it also did a lot of “canoe runs.” A canoe run was where someone on staff drove guests a few miles upriver and dropped them off with canoes, along with a lifeguard to guide the group. This stretch of river was mostly flat, but did have a few sets of progressively choppier or rougher rapids that helped break up the monotony. Canoe runs usually occurred four or five days a week, many times twice a day. As a result, the lifeguards became very familiar with the river and where they might encounter trouble spots or submerged obstacles. They almost never went more than a few days without being on the river, except for once each summer.

There’s a week every summer where the organization’s program offerings change, and it does not offer any waterfront activities. During this particular summer’s no-river-activities week, the remnants of a hurricane blew through our area. It rained hard for a few days that week, swelling streams and tributaries locally and for miles upstream of us. The water level rose and the current quickened many times over as that water made its way into the river.

For the first canoe run of the following week, plenty of people were excited to go. Recognizing that the river had risen substantially, an extra lifeguard went on this trip. I was one of them. Things started out uneventfully, but we were still within sight of the boat ramp when something very unexpected happened.

Here’s the bridge, with the supporting pillars. The one in question is the one right over this guy’s shoulder.

Soon after the put-in point there’s a bridge that crosses the river. The bridge is built for vehicles, so its pillars are pretty solid. I’m not exactly sure what happened, but I think the two men in one of the canoes were trying to get past one of the columns and got surprised by how swift the current was moving. They somehow ended up slamming broadside into the pillar. The current was so strong that the impact dumped both people into the river and the force of the water physically wrapped the canoe around the upstream side of the pillar.

With the current moving so quickly, everyone else who had not hit a bridge went flying past the site of the impact. The other lifeguard and I, still a little stunned that someone had actually run into the only thing they could have possibly hit, spun our canoe around and began paddling upstream as hard as we could, but it was all we could do to not lose any further ground to the current. Just about all of the other canoes did the same thing, but with varying degrees of success. The two guys that got dumped in the water didn’t quite know what to do, and were stuck in the eddy downstream of the pillar. Everyone paddling hard was getting tired, so we had to shout to the guys to start swimming downstream, out of the eddy, so we could reach them. They did, and we eventually reached them and placed them in two of the remaining canoes.

This all happened within sight of where we put the canoes into the water. We still had almost three miles to go! I started worrying about all kinds of things. “What are the rapids gonna look like?” “If the current’s moving this fast, is our whole group going to be able to make land if they all arrive at our destination at the same time?” “How do I tell my boss I lost a canoe?”

The rest of the trip wasn’t nearly as eventful as what I feared. The river was so high that the rapids no longer existed, and the current moved so quickly that we made it downstream in record time. It was a struggle at the end, but we were able to get everyone back on land at the right spot. After counting heads and accounting for all of the gear (minus one boat and a few paddles), it was time to go tell the boss.

You might remember Allen from an earlier post. He’s the guy that recruited me into lifeguard training. He was in charge of all the recreational activities, and he was the guy I needed to tell. Allen’s the kind of guy that usually has the same facial expression whether he’s happy, sad, conflicted, ecstatic, flabbergasted, or thinking about a baloney sandwich.

“Dude, Al! We lost a canoe! These guys hit one of the bridge pillars, the canoe wrapped around it, they got dumped out, we picked ’em up and made it back, and as far as I know, the canoe’s still there, stuck on the bridge!”

He just kind of stood there and blinked at me, digesting what he just heard. He asked me a few clarification questions, paused to think for a few moments, and then hit me with:

“Well, let’s go get it.”

Then it was my turn to stand there and blink.

I should have protested more, maybe making more of an attempt to convey the river’s strength. I was fresh off the situation…I had just been there and seen the power of the current, and how crazy high the water actually was. Allen knew the conditions were much different from what they normally were, but he hadn’t been there to witness the ease with which the river destroyed a canoe. At 16 years old, though, I wasn’t confident enough to challenge my boss and say “I’ve been there, I’ve seen it! You’ve gotta believe me!”

There’s a difference between knowing something with your mind and having experienced that same thing in person. If you follow Christ, He enables you to do things that you can’t do without Him. The Bible talks about how we’re supposed to go out and tell the world about Christ, being bold and taking steps forward when we can’t see what’s in front of us. It talks about being strong and courageous, and it even talks about how, if you’re faithful with a few things, you’ll be granted authority over more resources so you can further demonstrate your faithfulness.

Yet it’s one thing to read about and say “yeah, I know that, I’ve known that for years” and quite another to do it. Keeping your keister parked on the couch instead of being obedient is a loss for Christ’s kingdom. You, as a child of God, need not fear even when seemingly impossible and daunting obstacles stand before you. If you know that God will empower His followers to do His work, do you believe Him? Going a step further, if you know that God has charged you to do something overwhelming, are you stepping out in faith even when you can’t see what’s in front of you?

Take the next step. Step out in faith. He’s going to give you what you need to succeed in His name. I’ve been there. I’ve seen it. You’ve gotta believe me!

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Built for Success

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.

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A New Chapter Begins

Congratulations! You have officially made it through Christmas, New Year’s, and if you haven’t already, you’ll probably be getting back into the normal routine soon.

For some, 2018 was a great year with uplifting stories and good fortune. Others have experienced loss or heartache and are happy to close the book on this past year. Wherever you are, we’re now taking our first tentative steps into 2019. The year that lies ahead holds unforeseen challenges as well as circumstances you can choose to interpret as either sweet or sour.

In a previous post I said that God does not force you to do great and impossible things; He invites you to come along and be a part of them. If you choose to turn down the invitation, don’t be confused when you wonder why you’re not finding more to this life.

To kick off the blog for 2019 I’d like to include an excerpt taken from a book I read this past year. It’s by a man named Erwin McManus, called The Last Arrow. The book takes its name from an Old Testament story where the king of Israel sought out the prophet Elisha to plead with God for protection against approaching enemies.

One of the odd instructions Elisha gave the king was to take some of the arrows he had and strike them on the ground. The king then complied, but stopped after striking three arrows on the ground. This angered Elisha, who said “You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. But now you will defeat it only three times.” The king’s heart wasn’t in the effort, and he gave up too soon.

When an archer has a quiver full of arrows, they are not doing any good until they’re in flight. Regardless of how cool they look, a group of arrows still in a quiver only represents potential. They do not serve their purpose until they come flying off the bow. During a time when they ought to be used, an arrow that remains in a quiver is an arrow that’s been wasted.

Most of us naturally attempt something with less than full commitment, or we naturally maintain a bias for inaction. In other words, we don’t begin something unless we receive “a clear sign” that we’re supposed to embark on a new undertaking. We’re modern-day versions of Gideon, rolling out fleeces on the ground and waiting for improbable signs that will help us avoid acting on opportunities set before us, even if we recognize them.

Instead, what if we maintained a bias for action? What if we alternatively had the attitude of “I’m going to keep going until I get a clear sign to stop?” Another way of thinking about it is to “Go until you get a no.”

Wherever you are in life, don’t give in to the doubts you have. Don’t allow the excuses to pile up and sway you. “I’m too old.” “I’m too young.” “I’m too hurt.” “I’m too busy.” Whatever your “I’m too” is, don’t let that stop you. If you’re breathing, you can employ the gifts God’s given to you.

From The Last Arrow:

“The great tragedy that I have witnessed over and over again is that we keep underestimating how much God wants to do in us and through us. Too many of us have believed the lies we have been told: that we’re not good enough, we’re not smart enough, we’re not talented enough, we’re just not enough. One of the facets of God that makes him extraordinary is his ability to do the impossible through ordinary, everyday, common people like you and me. This book has one intention: that whether you win or lose, succeed or fail, live a life of celebrity or anonymity, that when you take your last breath, you will know without reservation that you have given everything you have, everything you are, to the life you have been entrusted with.”

There’s more out there. You were made for more. As we start 2019 I’m going to continue exhorting you to accept the challenges God has already and will continue to lay before you. Accept His invitation and prepare to be amazed at the power of God working through you.

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Sometimes the Failures Come Before the Successes

Were you ever successful on your first attempt to do something tricky? If you’re fortunate enough to say ‘yes,’ I wouldn’t get used to that being the norm.

After college I worked for a construction company for about a year and a half before leaving for the Air Force. During the summers we started at 6:30 or 7 in the morning so we could escape some of the heat of the late afternoon. Getting off work at 3 or 3:30 in the afternoon meant there was still plenty of time to get to the pool before it closed.

This was the same pool where I had spent a few summers lifeguarding. When I worked at the pools, I got the chance to watch people do some pretty cool things off the diving boards. I never really had the chance to try it out though, because I was either working or hurrying to get something done so I could move on to the next thing.

I’m not really sure what triggered it, but one day after work when I was at the pool, I decided that I wanted to try a “one and a half” off the diving board. I’m not sure if there’s a better name than that for it, but if you do a flip off the diving board and land in the water feet first, that’s “one.” A one and a half is when you do a flip, but keep rotating another half revolution and enter the water hands/headfirst in a dive.

You have to understand that back then I had a higher tolerance for pain. Working in construction means you’re constantly dealing with bruises, knicks, bumps, drops, even a few slams here and there. For whatever reason, on that day, I was willing to accept some pain in order to perform a one and a half.

Failure after failure ensued. I’m on the tall side, so it took me a bit to figure out how to deal with under-rotation. Rotating 360 degrees is good, and rotating the desired 540 degrees is good, but when you’re somewhere in between those two, it’s ugly and painful (especially when you’re spinning fast and your face is the first thing to hit the water). Some of the flops forced my eyes open underwater, some of them wrenched my neck back, and some of them just stung when I hit the water the wrong way.

I was finally able to do it. The secret was twofold: you had to tuck in your legs almost like you’re doing a cannonball, and you had to spin full speed in order to get the full rotation. It was the most bizarre feeling to be spinning so fast that your face starts warping and you had to use your arms to pull your knees close to your chest or they’d fly away from it. Weird as it was, it was the only way to make it work.

I don’t think I’ve ever done another one and a half since that day. I just wanted to figure it out for myself and be able to say that I had done it. Here’s the important takeaway from this little story: in order to reach my goal, I had to be willing to fail. Boy, did I fail. And I didn’t just fail once, I failed MANY times (sometimes in an epic way). In the end, I failed more times than I was successful, but the eventual success somehow made the failures seem less important.

Some of you are afraid of failure. Why? Maybe you’re afraid of someone seeing you miss the mark. Maybe you think that it will result in people labeling you as someone with poor judgment. It might be because you’re afraid of what will happen if you succeed. Whether it’s ego, fear, embarrassment, whatever it is, ask yourself if the reason you don’t try is because of something that’s only in your head.

I think this is a recurring theme in this blog: in your Christian life, God will challenge you to do things that you think you’re going to fail at. That’s fine. It’s okay to fear failure. Don’t miss the next part, though. Fearing the possibility of failure is not a valid excuse for not trying. If God hands you an assignment that takes the wind out of your sails, I can guarantee the little voice that starts whispering to you “there’s just no way” is not a part of God’s team. If someone who’s not on God’s team starts trying to put ideas in your head, do you think you should put any stock in them?

Today I heard someone say “People don’t want to be preached to; they want to be summoned.” They want to be called, invited, to be a part of something. God will summon you to do something big, and He will pick YOU for a specific reason. You may not know why, but it’s part of His master plan. Nobody else on the entire planet has the exact combination of experiences, gifts, talents, and resources that you do. If God’s calling you to be a part of something, don’t let the possibility of failure stop you from getting started. Your obedience can unleash something you never saw coming, and open the door for others to be a part of something bigger than you could have expected.

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Adapt and Overcome

After I finished Air Force Basic Training, I moved to a different part of Lackland Air Force Base (AFB) near San Antonio, TX. Here I began trying out to become a survival school instructor, officially called a SERE Specialist (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape). At the time, this two-week course was called SEREIIC – SERE Instructor Indoctrination Course. If you passed this course, you moved up to Fairchild AFB near Spokane, Washington to take part in a longer, 6-month training course.

Just because this course was only two weeks long didn’t mean we only spent two weeks there. Having just arrived from Basic Training, all new SEREIIC trainees were skinny, had no muscle, still called everyone “Sir” or “Ma’am,” and generally were not suited for the physical rigors of the upcoming training. Two weeks is simply not enough time to transform skinny “Basic” bodies into something strong enough to withstand the requirements of the course. Even though the course was only two weeks, some students spent months there developing muscle mass and required skills. A few months after I first showed up at SEREIIC, I was 30-40 pounds heavier, mostly from all the workouts we did.

The training could be incredibly stressful, both physically and mentally. It’s not on par with Navy SEAL training, by any stretch, but they use some of the same elements. Room and uniform inspections that require impeccable attention to detail; sleep deprivation; spending hours a day doing physical training; and constant harassment from your instructors and others in charge of you. The whole purpose of this introductory course is to weed out the people that want to be there from the people that are less than fully committed. The instructors are training you to adapt and overcome. In a survival situation, when you are alone, exhausted, and it seems like there’s a never-ending list of hurdles you need to overcome, your life itself can depend on your willingness to overcome doubt, get up off the ground and keep going, no matter how much you just want to lay there a little bit longer.

We didn’t always see it while it was happening, but the misery we endured built fortitude and perseverance in us. The physical training on its own was enough to make some people drop out. Add to that various types of verbal harassment and other pressures, and it became incredibly stressful. I showed up with a group of about 10 or 11 guys, and the guys who had been around for awhile thought it was really fun to haze us. Our first night we were part of the “Newbie 500,” more or less a couple of hours where the students with seniority made us work out in absurd ways until they got tired of messing with us. Pushups, flutter kicks, squats, sprints, bear crawls, crab crawls, and a number of other activities too difficult to describe here, all of them exhausting or painful.

We were only seriously hazed once, but it continued on and off until the guys with seniority either graduated or washed out of the course. The heavy duty physical training came as a part of our normal duty day, under the supervision of instructors. During our duty day (when we were actually at work), any time we entered or left the dorms, the chow hall, or the school, all of us did a synchronized set of about 25 pushups. To be honest, it looked pretty cool when there were 20 of us doing pushups in unison, but we had to do it as a team, or else we’d have to start over and probably pay some kind of physical penalty on top of it for not working together. Between the normal course of traveling between buildings, doing normal PT, missing details during our uniform or room inspections, and after-hours “smoke sessions,” there were days where we did a thousand pushups.

There was plenty of running and rucking, too. We had a couple of tracks, one of them a quarter mile and another one a full mile. To help build our bodies’ tolerance, the new trainees were issued ruck sacks that they were to fill with “only” 45 pounds’ worth of rocks or anything else that could get the scale past the minimum. Over time the load grew. Our instructor cadre would tell us to either run or ruck some seemingly impossible distance in some improbably short amount of time. We had this one guy that, once the instructors were out of earshot, would always start complaining “Dude, there’s no possible way we can make it that far that fast!” It never failed. At first we felt the same way as he did, but over time we learned not to think like him, instead saying “you might be right, but c’mon, let’s argue about it along the way.”

A funny thing happened during our stay there at SEREIIC. We got stronger, and our confidence grew. The ruck sacks got heavier, but we could handle it. We became faster, and could go farther. Pushups weren’t so scary, they just became part of the day’s routine. We were able to smash through the mental barriers we had put up for ourselves and accomplish just about every goal the cadre set before us.

I’ll have more stories to share from this chapter of my life, but for this post I want to convey this main point: if you want to do great things for Christ, you have to be able to look at seemingly insurmountable obstacles, take a deep breath, and start moving. If you are a child of God, there is unimaginable power living within you! Do not be afraid or discouraged!

Break loose from mediocrity, and start climbing the huge wall that stands between where you are and reaching your full potential as an impactful Christ-follower. Want to know a secret that’s kinda scary but also kinda exhilarating? After you make it past that wall, there’s going to be another, bigger one behind it. And there’s another one behind that one. And another one. And on, and on, and on. Each one you overcome, though, will either arm you with new knowledge, or show you that you can do things you once thought impossible. Once you’ve scaled a number of these metaphorical walls, you’ll no longer flinch at doing things you believe to be beyond your capability.

God has a way of putting big challenges in His followers’ lives. It’s important to remember that the things you faced yesterday have prepared you for the challenges you’ll face today and tomorrow. It’s scary sometimes, but if He’s placed an impossible task in front of you, He’s also made a way for you to get past it. Will you start complaining that it looks impossible, or will you pick up your ruck and start moving?

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Happy Thanksgiving

Today I’d like to do something a little different.

I’ve been posting to this blog for a little more than a month and a half now. Even though I’m the main author, I don’t think that I should be the only one with some input.

In the coming weeks, I’d like to figure out a way to enable some discussion. It’s fun for me to think back on some of these experiences, but my main goal in sharing these posts is to encourage you to step out in faith to act on the idea(s) God’s been placing in your life. While I believe it’s good for me to start the discussion, I believe the real value is going to be in readers echoing the points I highlight; I think people would benefit from some “testimonials” from other people that they, too, have experienced the things I’m writing about.

For some of you, I’m just a guy that writes stories about the crazy things he’s seen or done. For others though, I’m a portion of the overall way God might be speaking to you about something He’d like you to embark upon. I’ll be honest, I have no clue what God would like for you to do, but with your talents, interests, and resources, you can make a profound difference when you fulfill the role God is offering you.

Remember my challenge from the last post: the idea that you keep coming back to, that thing God’s been whispering in your ear that you can’t get away from…tell someone about it. I’m embedding the same video from last time. If it helps, use it as a way to start the discussion with someone while you’re with them this holiday.

I Have To – Promotional Trailer from Christy Fay on Vimeo.

If, at this point you don’t have any ideas of what you’re supposed to do, you can still put your creativity or other gifts to work. Here are some ideas you can work on:

  • Many people that are open to hearing about Jesus and the Bible feel uncomfortable walking into a church; is there a way you can either make church feel less intimidating for them, or is there a way you can bring church to people on their terms?
  • It’s very rare for people to have a “BANG!” kind of conversion experience. The truth is, many people are searching for the truth, and keep coming back to Christianity for one reason or another, but they often need time to wrestle with the things they’re hearing and learning from church and other Christian leaders. Can you think of a way to reach, assist, and encourage those individuals, either virtually or face-to-face?
  • In just about any aspect of life, there are people with abilities and resources, and there are people with needs. Within your sphere of influence, can you come up with a way to match them to each other?
  • The older people among us have seen and been a part of incredible things, and have a valuable amount of life experience. The younger people among us have energy, enthusiasm, and are fluent in technology. How can we marry experience, enthusiasm, and skillsets to accomplish amazing things for God’s glory? If you’re not up for cracking the code on this one, consider making at least one friend from every decade of life, and challenge others to do the same.
  • Help explain to me how to set up a discussion page on WordPress. 🙂 If that won’t work, will comments be enough for readers to encourage and cheer on other readers? Would it work better on the Dare Greatly Now Facebook page?

There are lots of ways to employ your gifts, these are just a few examples that require constant energy and effort from people. I’m hopeful that having fresh sets of eyes will come up with new, creative solutions. If none of them sound quite right to you, and you see some other problem staring you in the face, maybe that’s your calling. You’re the only one that can do everything you can do. If you don’t do it, you’re leaving some of your potential unfulfilled.

Today I have much to be thankful for. One of the biggest things is that God has equipped us with different talents, resources, interests, and spiritual gifts. Not only does He hand us these things, but He gives us the free will to choose to use (or not use) them for His glory. He won’t make you do it by forcing you to become some grudgingly compliant subordinate. He invites you to come along, making you a willing (and often, excited) volunteer!

Another thing for which I’m thankful is the difference that you can make if you accept the challenge God gives you. As a Christian, there’s a power living inside of you that’s greater than you can imagine. Don’t stifle it. Letting it go unused is like leaving a Lamborghini locked in the garage. Turn it loose and get a taste of what that engine can do.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

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Ask Me

It’s funny how much parenthood can teach you about Christ’s relationship with us. I’ve got three kiddos under 10, and it’s been fun to watch them develop and learn as they grow.

Of course, parenthood has its exhausting moments. I have to credit my wife with doing the heavy lifting. Anytime there’s a bad dream or an injury, they don’t come looking for me unless Mommy’s unavailable (and even then, sometimes they’ll just wait for her rather than come to me). I can have one sitting on each of my knees, be hugging the third, and have all of them crying, but all of them will want Mommy.

But anyway…my wife and I found ourselves repeating the same things many times as our kids were very young. “Eat what you have, then ask for more.” “Obey first, then ask questions.” “Slow obeying is disobeying.” Some day, when our kids get old enough to do impressions of us, these are the maxims that I’m sure they’ll use.

It’s funny, though, to watch kids get a little more slick as they grow. Sometimes they wanted something, but they didn’t want to come out and ask for it. Instead, they might just throw out an unprovoked comment. “I wish we could have a snack pretty soon.” “It would sure be fun to watch a show right now.” “If you asked me if I wanted more milk, I would say yes, because my glass is almost empty.” My wife and I thought this was kind of fun to see, but we also wanted them to learn that it was okay to ask questions. One of the common sayings we had was “So…do you have a question?” They caught on pretty quickly that if they wanted something, they couldn’t just “wish out loud” about it; they needed to ask us (and the word “please” had better be a part of that question). Sometimes the answer would be yes, other times it would be no, but their chances of success would be much higher if they actually asked.

Going back to what I said earlier about parenthood teaching you about Christ’s relationship with us…God wants us to ask Him, too. The most blatant example I can think of comes from Luke 18:39-43. A blind beggar heard that Jesus was passing by, so he started yelling to get Jesus’ attention. When bystanders started shushing him, he only got louder. Then Jesus had the blind man brought to Him. What Jesus asked next is a little bit mind-numbing. “What do you want me to do for you?”

What kind of a question is that?! The guy is BLIND! This wasn’t like being blind today, where you can receive an education or get a job despite being visually impaired. Back then it’s not like there were specialized accommodations like Braille signs and traffic signals that made noise when it’s safe to cross the street. Blind people back then couldn’t get work. They had to beg, and they relied on whatever they received. If nobody gave them anything, they didn’t have anything. Christ knew exactly what the guy wanted, but He wanted the beggar to ask for it. He wanted him to articulate it, to express it, to say it out loud. It was perfectly obvious that the beggar had faith in Christ, but without him articulating his request, his chances of getting what he wanted were much lower.

Without ego, without hesitation, without any kind of pretense, he told Christ exactly what he wanted. “I want to see!” Verse 42 makes it clear that this beggar’s faith worked in his favor. Christ healed him; he immediately received his sight, and everyone that witnessed it gave glory to God.

When we pray, we must ask with thankfulness and with faith. Ever since the temple curtain tore in two, we have direct access to God. We no longer have to go through a priest or some other intermediary. You can talk directlyto your savior.

What are you asking for when you pray? Are you asking for mighty and impossible things? I once heard a preacher say something to the effect of “we can boldly approach the creator of the universe, who waits with His hand cupped behind his ear to hear our requests. What do we ask? ‘Dear God, watch over the parakeet and water the grass.'”

I love the mental imagery that this same preacher goes on to convey. When you pray, ask God for things that are so big…so impossible, that when He hears you, God slides forward in his throne, elbows an angel, points at you, and says “did you hear THAT?!”

He’s waiting for you to ask Him. You’re invited to live a life of daring and greatness on His behalf. So…do you have a question?

A little motivation (I’m more interested in the audio than the video)…

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Help’s Coming

An Air Force Pararescueman during an exercise

More than normal, I feel like this post can be helpful or encouraging to people. So please, when you finish reading it, pass it along if you think you know someone that can benefit from it. Link to it on social media, forward the email, or text the link to someone that comes to mind.

In order for the Air Force to cultivate an aggressive attitude among its frontline warriors, those Airmen need to be confident that if something goes wrong during a mission (their aircraft gets shot down, they get separated while behind enemy lines, etc.), somebody from our side is tenaciously coming to find them, and is going to fight viciously to bring them back. Just in case our forces can’t get there right away, those people need to be trained how to survive, how to try to avoid capture, and what to do in case they do get caught.

The Air Force has two main answers to this. It has two entire career fields dedicated to this function. One group is a set of special forces medics sent into combat to locate, stabilize, and bring out our people that are in trouble (all while under fire, if need be). They can parachute or swim in, rappel down a cliff to retrieve someone dangling by a parachute, get them medically patched up well enough to move them, and link up with a way to get to safety. This group is called the PJs (short for Pararesecue Jumper), and during a real mission, they rarely travel without some heavily armed friends.

The second career field is the one I tried out for: the SERE Specialists. The acronym “SERE” (pronounced “seer”) stands for Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape. Full-fledged SERE Specialists are responsible for conducting training for anyone that, due to their official duties, experiences a higher-than-normal risk of being isolated and/or captured by the enemy. This includes pretty much anyone that works onboard an Air Force aircraft, Air Force special forces, some specialized combat roles, and a mishmash of other personnel. This is the only career in the Air Force where brand new enlisted Airmen are trained as instructors teaching both officers and enlisted Air Force members right off the bat.

Fire building is a critical skill taught in SERE training

The SERE acronym itself covers the full range of living through a combat mishap and getting returned to friendly forces. “Survival” is the easiest one. If, for example, your aircraft crashes in the ocean and you drift to a deserted island, you need to figure out how to survive until you get rescued. “Evasion” gets trickier; now you need to survive and signal friendly forces while trying not to get caught by the enemy forces looking for you. “Resistance” refers to your actions after you’ve been caught by the enemy; you’re going to be interrogated and dispirited. This phase focuses on doing your best to avoid giving the enemy useful information while clinging to hope. Finally, “Escape” is the goal of most prisoners. During WWII, the more prisoners that escaped from their POW camps, the more enemy personnel had to go out looking for escapees or guard those camps, which meant those enemy troops left combat roles on the front lines.

It’s expensive for the Air Force to move people around to different assignments and locations. Someone in the Air Force noticed “Hey, there are a handful of jobs whose training courses have high failure rates. Instead of sending people directly from Basic to those schools, why don’t we have sort of a “try out” school at the same location as Basic Training, and if they pass that, then we send them to their school?”
That’s why, after Basic Training, I moved from the main part of Lackland Air Force Base (AFB) near San Antonio, Texas to a base annex nearby. The unit I joined was made up of five groups:

  • SERE trainees (this is the group I was a part of), 
  • Pararescue, or PJs, 
  • Combat Controllers (another type of special forces that can improvise a runway or landing zone where no official one exists; they’re air-traffic controllers with guns and face paint), 
  • Explosive Ordnance Disposal, or EOD (the bomb squad),
  • SOTs – Students Out of Training (someone that, for whatever reason, will not be continuing to the main training school of one of the previous four groups. The collective washout rate for the other four groups was so high that this group warranted its own organization while they awaited reclassification to a new job.)

For the SERE trainees, every aspect of being stationed here revolved around one of two purposes: developing the mental and physical toughness to endure hardship and seemingly overwhelming odds, and demonstrating proficiency in learning the skills taught to you. If SERE trainees passed this class, they move up to Fairchild AFB in Washington State, where they continued their training. Anyone who ultimately graduates as a SERE Specialist will have personally endured situations where they refused to give up, where they endured miserable conditions, and where at times all they could think about was finding shelter, firewood, food, or water. On top of that, they learned to be teachers responsible for the health and well-being of a group of students that were cold, wet, miserable, and hungry, trying to trek around in the Washington wilderness without being caught by a mock enemy.

It’s also very expensive for the Air Force to train aircrew and special operators. Once those individuals are trained and begin getting some combat experience under their belt, they become even more valuable. The point behind the Air Force sending so many of its aviators and special forces personnel through survival school is so that, if something goes wrong on a mission, they can keep going long enough for us to get them back and return them to performing well in their combat role. The training does not guarantee that they’ll live comfortably while isolated; it doesn’t even guarantee that they’ll be able to perform the same job once we get them back. It’s just meant to help them live through it, because Air Force leaders know that even if they recover people that can no longer perform their primary function, the training and experience wrapped up in them still makes them high-performing contributors in a different capacity.

You might be in that situation right now. Figuratively, or maybe even literally, you might be cold, dirty, wet, wounded, hungry, exhausted, and scared. All you’re trying to do is survive; to hang on long enough for things to get better. You can’t possibly think about embarking on some grand adventure for Christ right now. My answer to that is this: you may have already begun one.

Once you get back to being able to take a deep breath, the experience you’ve survived will become a part of who you are. The immediate danger and stress may be over at that point, but it will permanently impact how you go through life, affecting how you make decisions in the future. Better yet, God can use the current craziness to steer you into a new role that reaches others in ways that you didn’t see coming. That could be the part God’s after, even though things are rough right now. What you’re going through now is part of the training you have to endure, but you don’t yet know what your future role is going to be. Even though it’s difficult, and at times unbearable, but it’s something that you’ll lean on in the future.

In the meantime, I know it’s hard, but keep holding on. Someone’s coming for you. I don’t know what form it will take, but help is tenaciously coming for you, and will fight viciously to bring you back.

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Proud Papa

I have the honor and privilege of being the dad of three great kids. One of the most exciting times as a parent of young kids is when they’re learning to walk. A lot of times you can see it coming; they get really good at scooting around on the floor, but they start pulling themselves up and standing next to a couch or a chair on a more regular basis. It’s fun to watch as they start to “accidentally” learn. They pull themselves up, then get distracted as they find a toy sitting on the couch. They grab the toy with both hands and start chewing on it, forgetting that they had been relying on the couch for balance. Without realizing it, they’re standing unassisted, happily chewing on something.

Then they realize that they’re not holding onto anything. The reaction can be priceless. Sometimes they freak out and fall down right away, sometimes they grab onto the couch, and other times they simply squat down and sit on the floor.

Usually a few weeks after that they’re learning to walk. It’s so much fun to watch! It starts out with them again holding onto something and taking those first few tentative steps along a couch to reach a toy on the other end, for example. Before long they’re starting to do it without holding onto anything. They’re learning and becoming more capable without even realizing it.

It gets fun when you sit on a chair across the room and you encourage them to walk to you. I’ve learned, though, that if you lean back in your chair, it looks farther away to them, and they’ll look at you and decide it’s too far, so they’ll just drop to the floor and crawl to you rather than try to walk. Instead you sit on the very edge of your seat, with arms outstretched as far as you can reach toward them. When you appear that much closer, they happily leave the safety of that couch and take a few shaky steps toward you. Early in their walking experience you have to be very close, because they don’t have the ability to go all that far. As they get better at it, you can begin slowly withdrawing from them as they step toward you because you know they can handle the challenge, and you also know that they wouldn’t have bothered to try walking to you if they actually knew how far they’d have to end up walking.

It’s such a joyful experience to watch their drooly little faces as they keep stepping your way. Sometimes they realize what’s happening and lose focus, either out of fear or because they get distracted, and they fall to the floor. This happens a lot in those first few tries! They get better at it though, and soon you’re holding your breath as they get closer and closer, walking almost all the way across the room. You want to say to them “you’re doing it!” but you’re afraid to say it out loud because if they realize what’s happening, they might fall again. Sometimes they make it almost all the way to you and either get tired or just plain give up and squat down. I know that when I see them do that, the competitive drive in me makes me want to say “Oh, MAN! You almost had it! If only you’d have focused just a little bit longer!”

This whole experience must have been what Jesus felt when Peter jumped out of the boat and started walking on water to Him. Based off the fatherly perspective I just covered, I would imagine Jesus’s eyes welling up a little bit and having to bite his lower lip as one of His students grabbed the chance to shine. I imagine that as He watched Peter begin doing something nobody should have been able to do on their own, Jesus screamed on the inside of His head “You’re doing it!”

Of course Peter looked around at what was happening. He saw what the wind and the waves were doing, and got scared. He took his eye off Jesus and started sinking. As He cried out for help, Jesus grabbed his hand without hesitation. “You of little faith. Why did you doubt?” That’s what He said, but maybe He was thinking “Oh MAN! You almost had it! If only you’d have focused just a little bit longer!”

Can you imagine what Peter must have felt? The exhilaration of reflecting on what he had done. The disappointment of having almost done more.

In your life, if you are a Christian, you have the same power living within you. In this life you’re most likely not going to get the opportunity to walk on water, but you may be aware of a lesson that Christ has been teaching you lately. You have the capability, but maybe not the drive. Like the parent of a young child learning to walk, Jesus might be watching you and thinking “C’mon, I know you can do it. Try it again.”

Don’t be afraid. It’s time to give it another shot.