Tag: christian encouragement

Posted on

Leap of Faith

USMC Confidence Course

When I was in Air Force Basic Training, we spent about a week at a mock deployment location. Up until that point Basic had focused on learning rank, Air Force customs and courtesies, how to conduct yourselves as Airmen, how to wear the uniform, etc. The goal of this “Warrior Week” was to introduce trainees to some of the things they would be likely to encounter in a deployed environment. This is where trainees first use a gas mask, where they eat their first MRE (Meal, Ready to Eat), where they first fire an M-16, and the week generally serves as an introduction to a variety of other things that they might need to understand when deployed.

This week is also when trainees go through the Confidence Course. The Air Force cannot control the background, knowledge, or skills of its enlistees, but it can provide the same training and experiences to everyone that joins its ranks. The Confidence Course is intended to present trainees with obstacles that they have to somehow overcome. In the process it builds in each trainee a sense of confidence in having been able to accomplish each task, so each person feels able to take on more difficult tasks, which is good because the most difficult challenges are toward the end of the course. None of the individual obstacles are particularly difficult, but the odds are that every trainee is likely going to have to face something they’ve never done before.

One of the more memorable obstacles for me was one where you had to swing on a rope to get across a pool of water. This is no big deal and it’s actually kind of a fun thing to do, except for the fact that the rope is too short for you to grab while standing on the edge. The person that went before you stands on the far edge of the pool and swings the rope to you, but since it’s not going to make it all the way to you, there comes a point at which you have to jump to meet the rope. Also, if you don’t jump, the rope will swing back and forth, with a little less momentum each time. Your best opportunity is the first one.

Rope swing element at the US Air Force Academy’s Confidence Course

As you grow and mature in your relationship with Jesus, you find that this obstacle may be an example for you. It’s a wonderful and beautiful thing when someone accepts Jesus as their Savior, and that relationship needs to deepen and grow. There comes a point, however, where believers must use their talents, abilities, and resources for the glory of God’s kingdom, and to help others learn about how He offers them an eternal gift. Sometimes the tasks set before believers will seem impossible to accomplish on their own, but they need to remember that they are NOT doing it on their own.

It is possible for believers to kill their own opportunities by waiting. There’s often something that’s in short supply, usually money or time. “I’ll start my new ministry when the money’s in place.” “This is a very busy time in my life, I can’t start something new right now.” What a lot of people don’t realize is that God may be deliberately withholding the resources you need until you demonstrate to Him your commitment. Sure, He knows your heart, but knowing your heart is a lot different from witnessing your resolve. Like the rope swing, you need to trust that if God has challenged you to do something, the things you need are going to be there at the time you need them, but you’re not going to reach them if your feet don’t leave the ground.

Sometimes you have to jump before you can get a grip on the rope.

Posted on

Fight the Need to Breathe

Learn to kayak in calm water before you hit the whitewater

The college I went to had a lot of programs and clubs that were geared toward adventure sports. The school’s gym had a pool, but the hallways that bordered it had windows so you could look in and see what was going on. A couple of nights during the week, I’d be walking through the gym for one reason or another and look through the windows to see a bunch of people kayaking around in the pool. During my junior year I finally wandered into the pool area during one of these sessions. The people in this club, called “Paddle Sports,” were whitewater kayak/raft enthusiasts.

I’d never kayaked before. It’s a little intimidating to see people practicing how to right a flipped kayak (while inside it), especially when that neoprene thing around their waist looks like it would make it difficult to get out if you really had to. I ended up walking into a pool session to check it out one evening, and the people seemed friendly enough. It wasn’t long before I was squeezing myself into a kayak and sliding off the deck into the pool.

For safety purposes, the first thing they had me practice was getting out of a flipped boat on my own. Until you get a feel for how a kayak handles, especially during a turn, it’s easy for the boat to flip over. Practicing this move first gives you confidence to start paddling around the pool and knowing that you can get yourself out of a jam if you flip over unexpectedly.

Once I was ready to move on to another skill, it was time to learn how to right a capsized kayak. This is where it got tricky, because not only do you have to coordinate a number of motor functions so they execute at the right time, but you also have to become comfortable enough with the process that you can suppress your survival instinct. Many people are able to lean far back during the maneuver to make it easier to roll on the long axis, and lots of beginners are able to figure out the right way to snap their hips to make the boat begin to roll, but what really takes a lot of getting used to is the idea that your head needs to be the last part of your body to come out of the water.

In order to make the roll work while you’re upside down, you position the paddle on the surface of the water by feel, you snap your hips while pulling against the paddle, and you lean back so your head nearly hits the stern during the roll. If you try to make your head come up first, it’s not going to work because the weight distribution and momentum just aren’t right. If you try it you might be able to gasp a quick breath, but you’re right back down again. When that happens you slowly move the paddle into position again, but the situation is more urgent now; that last gasp wasn’t a deep inhale. You start to focus on how badly you want to breathe, rather than the synchronization of the moves that needs to occur. You give it another shot, but if you lead with your head again, at best you might get another short gasp. If that happens, panic sets in and there’s much less of a chance that you can pull off the move on the third try. Part of the reason is that now there’s almost no focus on the technique; you only think about how you probably don’t have enough air to both give it another shot AND bail out if you fail.

Even with help from a teacher, this roll didn’t work because the guy led with his head

By then most people “pull their skirt” and slide out of the upside-down boat, happy to be in a pool rather than in the middle of some rapids somewhere. For most beginners, this experience of being panicked becomes crucial in understanding exactly why it’s so important to leave their head underwater until the end of the roll, and in helping to do something that feels completely unnatural: leaving your head underwater when all you want is air.

Living a life for Christ can be a lot like this. At times you have to fight against your own instincts and learn to prioritize your own needs lower than you otherwise would have. Sometimes the ability to do this only comes through failures or painful experience, but that experience helps you understand exactly why you need to do things differently. As time goes on and you intentionally spend time developing your relationship with Christ, you learn to act in ways that the world finds unnatural, but that you have come to understand as necessary for God’s glorification.

If you feel God pushing you a certain direction, but you’re avoiding it for no other reason than because it doesn’t seem like what a rational person would do, fight the need to breathe. It could lead you places you wouldn’t have expected.

Posted on

I Need Something More

Cleaning up the coast of Maine

After I finished college I went back home to live with my Mom and Dad in Pennsylvania. I had earned a Bachelor’s in Biology with an Environmental Emphasis, and I minored in Outdoor Recreation. The tough part was that I didn’t really know what to do with it. The events of 9/11 took place just a couple of weeks after I started my senior year of college; I couldn’t see myself moving into a career in forest/wildlife management or facilitating team-building on a ropes course after the world had changed so drastically, but I also didn’t want to run off and join the military. With no direction, I defaulted to moving back in with Mom and Dad.

I had no idea what the end result of that choice would be. I had no way of knowing what would eventually happen, but I ended up living there for about a year and a half before I left for the Air Force. To earn money, I worked construction for a local home builder. I learned a lot of stuff working that job, but when you’re single, live with your parents, and have a decent income coming in, it gives you some opportunity to explore some additional hobbies or try some different things out. During this time I paid back all of my college debt, volunteered to work with my church’s youth group, did a lot of kneeboarding on the river, bought a new (used) car, took up skydiving, and took trips to Maine and Australia.

Kneeboarding on the river

It was definitely unique in the sense that I had very little responsibility, but at the same time I was restless. There was no direction; nothing to throw my energy toward. I tried a variety of things to kind of see if any of them seemed like something I’d want to pursue further. I tried some stuff that I wanted to do, and it was fun, but it still felt like I was made for more. I needed something that was…bigger than just me.

As time went on, the idea of joining the Air Force grew on me. By that point I had at least experienced an introduction to rudimentary medical courses, skydiving, scuba diving, swift-water swimming, long-distance swimming, shooting, and generally spending a good amount of time in the great outdoors. I began gravitating toward the idea of joining an Air Force career field called Pararescue. These are Air Force special operators that are combat medics trained to enter enemy territory to locate, stabilize, and rescue downed aircrew. It seemed right up my alley!

Just knowing that they were a type of special forces within the military made me hesitate though, and I think I was probably afraid of the high failure rate. I opted for something a little less intense. I graduated college in May of 2002, and in May of 2003 I signed on the dotted line with the Air Force, agreeing to enter the career field of Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE) Specialist.

In order to guarantee that I’d have a slot trying out for that job, the recruiter let me know that I’d have to delay my entry into service. I signed in May, but didn’t leave for Basic Training until that December. I still had about six months left of doing the same stuff I had been doing, but knowing that there was something bigger coming helped me to feel more settled. I had found a few ways to push my limits in the past, but joining the Air Force in this capacity was going to allow me to really open up the throttle and see how far I could go. As you’ll see later, I got plenty of opportunities to push my limits, and the parts that were really exciting were where I exceeded what I thought were my limits.

Many times we impose our own limits. We don’t know where they came from, but somehow we taught ourselves to stay away from those limits, because we might get hurt or exhausted trying to reach them. By putting them in the context of something that’s beyond ourselves, though, things are a little more attainable. Isn’t it funny how when presented with a challenge, many Biblical characters immediately provided excuses? When called to speak for God, Moses blamed his speech impediment. Jonah ran the other way because he didn’t want God to spare the Ninevites. Instead of being crowned Israel’s first king, Saul went and hid. Many times we’re the same way. Those guys were all imperfect, but they went on to do great things when enabled by God’s power.

It’s no different for you and I. We’re called to do great things for God’s glory, but if you look back on your life, you may be able to remember some of the reasons you’ve cited about why you wouldn’t be the right person for whatever your calling is/was. Not only are you intentionally limiting yourself, but you’re missing out on incomparable adventures. Saying ‘no’ to God doesn’t help His kingdom grow. On the other hand, think about how much God’s glory is put on display when some feeble, unqualified human instrument agrees to go where God sent them, only to experience improbable success. It’s there, waiting for you.

Don’t be intimidated by the hurdles you see, but don’t be afraid of success, either. Accept God’s invitation to step into something larger than you.

Posted on

Are You a Carrier?

You might have a message to deliver, and you might not even know it

I lose sight of the sheer number of volunteers it takes to put on a church service. Childcare, Sunday School teachers, greeters, people handing out bulletins, people helping direct traffic in the parking lot, ushers…on and on and on. One time I was talking with a volunteer after church, and he mentioned that he was looking to move on to a different area of volunteering within the church. I asked him what he’d like to move into next, and he named one of our logistical roles, which is obviously a very important role on a busy Sunday morning.

I’m not sure why, but I started talking to him about moving into an area that felt sort of uncomfortable…maybe a little beyond what you feel comfortable doing. It’s like it just happened without any thought. There’s nothing wrong with the role he suggested, and in fact it’s a crucial need at our church. But for some reason, I just blurted this thought out.

He kind of shifted his weight and got a little fidgety. He even said “Oh, maaaaannnnnn.” He went on to explain that someone in church had recently approached him about filling another role; one that was just a bit beyond his comfort level. It turns out that my bringing up this idea was driving home a message that had already been delivered.

The God of the Old Testament is the same God we serve today. Instead of audibly speaking in a booming voice to people like Moses, today He whispers to us…to everyday people. A whisper can be easy to ignore, though, so sometimes He whispers to us a second time, or a third time. It might be a song you hear on the radio; it could be something that jumps out at you in a strange way while reading a book; it might even be a conversation you have with someone at church.

What’s really neat to think about is that, just in passing, you might be a part of God speaking to someone about a divine message that He’s in the middle of sending.

As far as the guy at church I was talking to…I don’t know what he decided. It’s not my job to try to convince him one way or the other. It turns out I’m just one of the messengers. I’m definitely curious, and I’ll probably follow up with him sometime, but I have to remember that there may be cases where I’m a messenger and I don’t even realize it, or that in some situations I won’t be able to learn the final outcome. It’s still exciting to be a part of, though.

I have a clip of a video that can illustrate this concept in a little bit of a different way. You’re gonna have to hang with me on this one, it’s from one of the X-Men movies. If you’re not familiar, some of the people in these movies have fantastic powers. In this scene, a woman named Raven has made up her mind to do something controversial. Her friend Charles, who is not physically with her at the time, desperately wants to stop her. Charles is telepathic, but he’s using a machine that can boost his telepathic abilities to communicate with her. As you watch this, imagine yourself as one of the people in the airport, who has no clue what’s going on. That can be you carrying a message that God is sending to a specific individual.

(Watch the first 60 seconds)

Of course, it’s up to the individual what they do with the message. Sometimes they’ll choose to take it to heart, and other times they’ll do everything they can to ignore it.

If you ever have a moment like this, where you kind of say “I don’t know why I said that,” you may have just been part of sending a message that God wants someone to hear.

On the flip side, if you notice that you’re getting the same message from a few different areas in your life, it’s probably time to take that message to heart.