Tag: christian encouragement

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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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Will it Always be This Exciting?

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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Valentine’s Day Gift

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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You Probably Can’t Even Get Through the Front Doors of That Church

Photo courtesy of GOD TV.

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.

Here’s a video for more info.

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.

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Where One Person Sees the Worst Super Bowl Ever…

Photo courtesy of The Independent

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.

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Power Versus Authority

Courtesy of tonyevans.org

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.

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Reintroduction

Endless possibilities…

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.

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Blind As a Bear

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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A Temporary or a Lasting Peace?

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.

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The Unexpected WILL Happen

Starting your senior year of college is unlike the start of any other year of college. Last year’s seniors are all gone, and now YOU are part of the class that’s graduating next. It’s the last time you head back to start a new academic year. You’re either excited about the prospects of the coming year, or terrified of what comes after you graduate. For me, one of the highlights of the coming year, to be sure, was a road trip across the country with a buddy to go see the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. We originally hatched our scheme a year earlier, and now here we were only about five months away from actually doing it.

At the start of my Senior year, I had no early class on Tuesday/Thursdays. That Fall I didn’t have to be in class until 9:40ish in the morning. One Tuesday morning about two or three weeks into the year I walked into a class in the science building and grabbed a seat in the classroom. Something was off, though. Everybody just had kind of a different mood and the place was abuzz. It took me a minute to piece together what was going on.

They told me that two planes had crashed into the Twin Towers in New York City and the two buildings had collapsed.

At first I was just confused and didn’t believe them. What was this, some kind of a sick joke? I had been to those towers before. They were immense. How could two planes have crashed into two buildings right next to each other on the same day? I didn’t yet understand that it was commercial jets that had crashed into the towers, that it had been done on purpose, and that there was a coordinated effort between terrorists on four different aircraft that participated in that day’s events.

I don’t remember what the lesson was that day. I just remember trying to wrap my head around the idea that those two buildings were no longer there. We had family in Brooklyn, and ever since I was a kid we had frequently taken trips there and would sometimes go sightseeing in Manhattan, including trips to the World Trade Center. After all the trips we’d taken into New York City, I couldn’t imagine the NYC skyline without the World Trade Center.

With some family atop the World Trade Center, probably a year or two before 9/11/2001

I thought back to the last time I had been there. I couldn’t think of anyone I knew who worked in those buildings, but I remembered riding in the elevator for the long ride up to the observation deck. The last time I took that trip, there had been a guy at the elevator’s controls that talked to us a little bit during the ride, and then without missing a beat turned to a little boy and started speaking fluent Spanish to him about sight-seeing in the city. I later found out about others I knew who worked in this area of Manhattan, but that day this elevator operator was the only guy I could think of in the towers. I still have no idea if he was in the towers that day or what happened to him.

I don’t think it became real to me until after I saw news coverage and replays of an aircraft striking the second tower, the subsequent collapses, and the terrified people running through the streets. Back then nobody had ever heard about the Taliban. Hardly anyone knew where Afghanistan was. Nobody knew what was happening, but everyone’s lives changed that day. As the reality settled in over the next few days, I started to wonder if there would even BE an Olympics for us to attend.

It was scary stuff, for sure. There are going to be times in your life where everything stops and your reality gets turned upside down. You’ll be devastated and in shock. It might be the death of a loved one; financial hardships; a diagnosis you didn’t see coming; a natural disaster. You can see no good reason why God would allow things like this to happen. The only question you’ll keep coming back to is “why?” In all honesty, you might not find an answer to that question this side of Heaven.

Some of you have already had experiences like that; others of you may not have. September 11th was a national tragedy, and it was on everyone’s mind and for awhile it was all anyone thought or talked about. The only good thing about it was that we mourned together. As time marched on and the events of that day have faded into the past, new or more urgent struggles have taken priority. It’s important to remember though, that the people with whom you come in contact any given day may be attempting to cope with an immense personal struggle.

Back in 2001 we mourned as a nation, but every day there are people who honestly believe that they are all alone in whatever struggle they find themselves. Please consider that the next time you feel the urge to really let someone have a piece of your mind. Not only that, but please be on the lookout for people that are fighting just to make it through the day. You might be the only lifeline God throws to them.

Taking a break from the Olympic chapter for a bit, but don’t worry, we’ll circle back later! If you know someone that you think will be encouraged by these posts, please let them know about DareGreatlyNow. Those are the people I’m posting for!