don’t lose your cool – Page 4

June 27, 2019June 26, 2019

There Is No “Plan B”

Photo courtesy of experienceperception.com

Boy, I’m a fan of those Marvel superhero movies. I’m not nearly as big a fan as some of the people out there, but it’s been fun to keep up with each new movie and see how the stories unfold. My wife and I went to see the first one…Iron Man…when it first came out in theaters in 2008 (she’s a cool wife). That was back before we had kids. Now, 11 years and over 20 movies later, the whole “Avengers” franchise came to a head with its most recent installment, “Avengers: Endgame” this past spring.

It’s been very interesting to observe, because while each individual movie was its own story, each one also contributed to the telling of a larger story that was always looming in the background. You’d probably be okay if you missed one or two of the minor movies, but if you hadn’t seen any of them before and you just walked in and watched the latest one, you’d be completely lost and you would have missed out on so many of the details.

In the superhero movies, the good guys always win, right? Well normally yes, but that’s not what happened last year with “Avengers: Infinity War.” At the end of that movie, the team of superheroes had been defeated soundly. Many of them were killed, and everyone on the planet (and beyond) had to endure the consequences of the heroes’ failure. It was a far cry from the fun, upbeat “save the world” superhero movie Marvel usually produced. When my wife and I went to see that one, we actually heard kids in the back of the theater, crying.

After watching “Infinity War,” we had to wait a whole year…until just a few weeks ago…to find out what happened next. We knew they couldn’t just end the story like that; the good guys have to win! We knew that by the end of “Endgame,” it would all be okay and the heroes would be back on top, but we didn’t know what path the story would take to get there. We could even make some solid guesses at a few of the major plot points, but we had no idea how the movie would fill in all the details.

My friends, though it’s a strange comparison, this is exactly what it’s like being a Christian and serving the God that created the universe. The Bible lets us know that things are going to get very dark and bleak in the years ahead. Even right now, I’d say that during this time period in history, fewer Americans than ever before value God or attending church. Christianity is viewed as an intolerant and archaic belief system that’s essentially just a bunch of rules about what you can and can’t do. The influence of church in today’s society has weakened to the point where even people within the Christian community pick and choose what they believe from the Bible, or twist what it says in order to justify tolerating things God hates. I just recently heard about the president of a seminary here in the United States who does not believe in the virgin birth or that Jesus rose from the dead. How far have we decayed that a person with this type of belief system could be president of an institution that educates future pastors?

There’s good news though. The good guys will win. What’s really interesting is that the church is still God’s plan for the world. Christ redeemed the world, but it’s the church’s job to get the word out. In order to let people know about it, God’s “Plan A” is to use the church, and there is no “Plan B.”

Do you know what that means? This is the exciting part…it means that even if the church as we know it completely dies out and loses all influence over today’s culture, it will morph into something new and more effective that reaches people with the news of how unsaved souls can gain salvation through Christ. The book of Revelation foretells of a revival toward the end. This means that the evolving church…whatever it looks like at that point…won’t just do an okay job, it’ll rock at it with God’s help.

Well that brings up an interesting point. If the collective church is going to undergo so many changes, how will we know what we’re supposed to do? If you’re really serious about studying the fall of the church’s influence and the tough times ahead, it’s easy to stress out. I find that the easiest way to not stress out about it is to simply follow God’s prompting when you feel it. (You’ll know it when you feel it.) In Matthew chapter 10, Jesus instructs the disciples about how to conduct themselves as they go out and spread the message. Notice how he discourages worry here:

“18…and you will even be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. 19“But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say; for it will be given you in that hour what you are to say. 20“For it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.”

It’s as if He’s saying “I have a plan. I’m going to have you be a part of it. All you have to do is whatever I tell you, and it’s all going to be okay.”

At this point, some people would say “sure, but that’s for other people…pastors, missionaries, people who get paid for it.” Nope. It’s for everyone that follows Christ, whether it’s your occupation or not. We’ll all be given opportunities to be part of the plan, and all we have to do is whatever task He sets before us.

The good guy wins in the end. We can guess at some of the major plot points, but we don’t know how the details will get filled in. There will be epic struggles, and we’ll lose some friends far too soon. In the end though, the wrongs will be set right, the tears will be wiped away, and we’ll all celebrate together when it’s over. Isn’t that the team you want to work alongside and contribute to?

June 20, 2019August 7, 2019

Tomorrow Might Never Come

I don’t remember if I was 16 or 17 but I worked as a lifeguard a few of my teenaged summers. The Christian conference center where I worked was always very busy in the summer time, so when I wasn’t doing lifeguard or pool stuff, I usually had some other type of work to do.

One morning I sat in an office near the conference center’s front desk, doing data entry for some upcoming summer programs. I heard someone come running in the front door, and breathlessly told the front desk attendant, Kari, that there had been an accident down on the river. On the other side of the Delaware River, right across from us, there was a rope swing. Apparently a pair of guys that had been paddling down the river stopped to play around on the rope, but the rope snapped on one of them while they were mid-swing. According to the guy who came running in, his buddy was conscious, but couldn’t get up. Since there were some people hanging out on the conference center’s dock, the uninjured guy saw them and paddled over to ask for help.

Kari called an ambulance to get them rolling, then came back to where I was. She asked if I could just go see if there was anything I could do to help or if there was anything I could find out.

As I ran across the street and arrived down at the dock, the guy in the boat was just paddling away in his boat, heading back over to his buddy. I asked the people on the dock what was going on, and got the same info I already had. It sounded like the guy in the boat was super panicky, and it wasn’t clear if the injured guy had a hurt ankle or a hurt back. There were no other boats around. A canoe would have been absolutely fantastic at that point, and the conference center’s ski boat would have been even better, but the waterfront equipment wasn’t going to be set out for the day for another half hour or so.

I didn’t know how long it would be before the ambulance arrived. I looked across the river to where the guy was still laying in the water. That was too far to swim. Well…maybe? It was, right? I had never tried it, but that didn’t mean it was too far. I’d been swimming laps in the pool; in fact I swam hundreds of yards most weeks, but I never went more than 25 yards without touching a wall. This was probably only four or five pool lengths. The guy over there might have a broken back, and if his buddy did anything crazy, it could have a lasting impact. Before I knew it, I ran up to the pool and grabbed a big red rescue tube, then ran back down to the river. I was already wearing swim trunks; I kicked off my shoes and took off my shirt. I put the rescue tube’s strap across my chest and waded into the water to start swimming across the river.

No big deal, right? It was the same thing that I did in the pool. Everything went fine at first. I swam with purpose, I was confident I could do it, and the adrenaline gave me a boost. I had swum hundreds of laps in the pool, so I knew to lay as horizontally in the water as possible, even though it felt unnatural, so I could streamline my body and reduce the effort I’d need to expend.

But that was in a nice clear pool, with goggles. There were no lines on the floor here telling me I was going in the right direction. I had to keep picking my head up to check where I was, where my destination was, how fast the current was taking me, and if there were any boats coming. Picking my head up meant my body was more slanted in the water, so I had to work harder to go the same distance. Without goggles, the water kept getting in my eyes and I had to squint or miss half a stroke to wipe my eyes to see again. My feet kept kicking the rescue tube or the strap it was attached to, so I had to modify my kick. The adrenaline burned off, and I was in the middle of the river, getting tired and starting to doubt myself.

I ended up switching strokes for awhile. I didn’t move very fast, but it helped me rest enough to resume my previous stroke. After what seemed like forever, I made it to the other side. I was glad when my feet touched land again and I was able to walk up out of the water to find out what was going on.

It turns out the guy hadn’t broken his back or anything quite so severe, but his leg was probably broken. The river bank was too steep to get him up to the top, especially since he was a bigger guy and I didn’t have any shoes. The rope swing was on the back edge of a field. Any emergency vehicles were probably going to have a rough time finding the dirt road that led to us. I sent the injured guy’s buddy out to the main road to help the ambulance find us, while I stayed with busted-leg guy.

The emergency folks didn’t have all the information they would have liked, so they activated the swift-water rescue team. Now, my hat’s off to volunteer paramedics and river rescue folks, because they never know what they’re going to deal with when they show up to a call. I have to say, though, I was a little amused when a guy in a life jacket, wetsuit, and a helmet tossed a throw-bag (a rope with a weighted end) near us as I sat on the shore of a gently flowing river, wearing only swim trunks, while the water gently lapped our feet.

They got the guy out and loaded him into the ambulance. They patched him up, and I don’t know what happened, but I’m sure he was fine after a few weeks on crutches. Thankfully by the time they were driving off our waterfront equipment was getting set out, and of all people, my dad came idling up to me in the conference center’s ski boat to give me a ride home. I was glad I didn’t have to swim back.

What a crazy story. Where in the world am I going with this? I have three things to elaborate on:

First, no matter who you are, daunting tasks lay before you. Whether it’s the struggle to make it through yet another mundane day or fighting against something that threatens to annihilate your way of life, the choice to either stand on the sidelines and watch or step forward to get your feet wet is up to you. The road will be hard, but things God placed in your pathway previously have helped equip you for the journey.

Secondly, you don’t have to have all the answers in order to be helpful. I was afraid this guy fell off a rope swing and broke his back and that I was going to have to deal with some crazy complicated scenario. I wasn’t an EMT, I was just a teenaged lifeguard that was trained in CPR and first aid. I don’t think I even had a driver’s license yet. If the guy had been in real bad shape, the only thing I had with me was a glorified pool float. I knew more than either of those two other guys did, though. I may not have done anything to save the day, but by deciding to wade into the river, I kept things from getting worse. We’ve all been there. Maybe you see something at work or at church where you know it’s not going to end well, despite the best intentions of the people involved. If you see something they don’t, even if you’re not the expert, consider offering some insight that can keep things from getting worse.

Finally, when God made you, He broke the mold. While we’re all made in His image, you’re not like anybody else on Earth. Think about the things that come naturally to you…the combination of talents, interests, and traits that are unique to you. We’ll call that unique combination your X factor. In this day and age there is an urgent need for people to make use of the X factors God gave them. There is nobody else in the world that possesses the exact same X factor you do. You might be thinking something like “but you don’t understand…I don’t have a position of authority…I don’t even talk with that many people…I’m a nobody.” Let me tell you something: the Bible is full of “nobodys” that chose to get out of the way and let God put their X factor to good use.

Many, if not all, of us have been given opportunities…opportunities to do whatever it is that we’re best at. It’s one of the greatest gifts a person can receive: a chance to do what you were made to do. Incredibly, many of us put it off. “I’ll do it tomorrow,” or even “next week.” What kind of arrogance is it we have when we assume “the same opportunity God is giving me right now will still be there in the morning”? The only thing you have for sure is right now. If God’s been nudging you to do something, what are you waiting for? It’s time to do it right now. Call that person right now. Stop delaying and set your idea in motion right now. Get it done right now. Wade into the water…right now.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. -Philippians 4:13

June 13, 2019June 12, 2019

Some Days You’re the Dog, Other Days You’re the Hydrant

My old college laptop: before wireless capability, with a battery that lasted about 20 minutes

I’m not exactly the most technologically savvy person out there. I’d probably still have a flip phone if the one I used to have didn’t quit working. Up until a few months ago, I had a Blackberry. I’m not yet to the point where I’ll have to ask my kids for help adding a new contact, but I can see that happening some day. I had to get my wife’s help emailing these pictures from my phone to the computer.

When I was in college, the school I attended was pretty advanced as far as how “connected” the campus was. I don’t know what the actual ranking was, but I think it was in the “Top 100 Most-Wired Campuses in America” or something like that. Our class was the second or third that the school mandated purchase a specific model of laptop. All our dorm rooms, classrooms, and hangouts had Ethernet connections. It was horrible and clunky by today’s standards, but it was pretty cutting-edge at the time. (Anybody else remember something called a “dongle?”)

A dongle…let’s take the most fragile piece of equipment and put it where it’s most likely to break.

Some aspects of living on a wired campus were nice, but back when this was all very new, we had a lot of network outages. Sometimes it was only for a short time, but every now and then they’d last for an hour or more, and it always seemed to happen exactly when you needed connectivity the most. One afternoon I was in my room, trying to get something done online before my next class. The network lost connectivity, and I wasn’t able to do whatever I was trying to do.

For whatever reason, this outage was particularly frustrating for me. Normally I’d just do something else for awhile and check back later to see if the network was back up. This time I figured I’d go in and mess with my computer’s settings; I thought I’d heard some tech-smart friends talking about getting their laptops to work during outages sometimes by changing some of their computers’ settings, so I thought I’d give it a shot. I don’t even remember what I did…I think I changed some ports or something in a tab somewhere. I couldn’t figure anything out and I had to get to class, so I left my computer running on my desk and left for class, frustrated.

When I came back about an hour later, our dorm’s Director and the college’s head IT guy were standing at my door, about to head in. Apparently the network started to come back up, but the settings I changed impacted not just my laptop, but the school’s whole network. Nobody on the college’s IT staff could bring it back up until my computer was either disconnected from the network or the proper settings were restored. It turns out I was an accidental cyberterrorist, and the dorm’s Director had to vouch for me so they didn’t get security involved. “Honest, I’m not a hacker…I just don’t know what I’m doing!” I’m pretty sure they made it so net-wide settings like that couldn’t be changed by unauthorized personnel after that. To all the students that came after me and didn’t have to deal with outages due to fellow students’ actions…you’re welcome.

(Not too long after that we had a weekend where parents came to visit. We were having lunch on Saturday with some of the parents, along with some faculty/staff. The professor that sat with us was one of my teachers, and he was complaining about a recent time when a student actually took down the whole network. He wasn’t laughing at the absurdity of it, he was actually still kind of mad about it. I’m sitting right next to the guy, having a hard time in his class. “Oh really, THAT’S what happened? Man, that’s a shame.”)

Sometimes you make decisions that have an impact on what you’re doing. Sometimes you make decisions that have an impact on what other people are doing. Even worse, with some of these latter decisions, you don’t even realize the ramifications of what you’ve done until it’s after the fact. I crippled the ability of the whole student body to do anything online, and I did it without even knowing it. In order to set things right, an expert in the subject area had to step into the situation and fix it.

There will be times when you’re the goober that gums everything up, and there’ll be times when you’re the one in a position to help make things right. The goal is to minimize the number of times you’re in the first category and to not take it out on the goobers too bad when you’re in the second category.

People make mistakes, and people let you down. We’ve all done it. Some people are extraordinarily talented at holding grudges for even the slightest of mistakes. While it’s true that you should take notice of trends in a person’s “mistake history,” it’s also worth thinking about giving them another chance, especially if you’ve already kept them in the doghouse for awhile. If it were you that messed up, wouldn’t you want another chance?

I’m thinking of getting a t-shirt that says “I was a hacker before it was cool,” but because some people know I can’t even find what I’m looking for on Netflix, I’d probably have to tell this story every time I wore it.

May 23, 2019May 22, 2019

If I Can’t Walk, Then I’m Crawling

In honor of the upcoming Memorial Day holiday, I’ll share a military-themed post. When I was younger I really enjoyed the movie “Saving Private Ryan.” It’s a story that took place during World War II in Europe, and starred Tom Hanks as Army Captain John Miller.

Throughout the movie Miller had led men against formidable obstacles; he was always able to get his team past the obstacle, but each time someone paid for it with their life. There’s a lot more to the story than this, but at the end of the movie, Captain Miller and a small group of soldiers find themselves vastly outnumbered and outgunned while defending an important bridge from an enemy onslaught.

It’s a losing battle. During the clash we repeatedly witness the demise of characters we’ve known for most of the movie, all while valiantly trying to defend either the bridge or each other. The enemy forces continue advancing, and the bridge appears as though it’s about to fall to the enemy.

As a last resort, the Americans have wired explosives to the bridge to prevent the enemy from using it. When it became apparent that the Americans couldn’t hold the bridge, they decided to destroy it. Retreating across the river, Miller prepared to activate the detonator, but in the process was mortally wounded and unable to set off the explosives. With an enemy tank about to begin moving across the bridge, Miller, unable to stand, leaned himself up against some debris and pulled out his sidearm. With nothing left to do, he began firing a pistol at an advancing tank.

CAPT Miller in “Saving Private Ryan”
CAPT Miller in “Saving Private Ryan”

I don’t want to spoil the ending if you haven’t seen it, but how do you get to the point where you’re trying to stop a tank with a pistol? Miller was a man that simply did not give up once he had made up his mind about an objective. There was no quit in him. He fought the way he could make the maximum impact, and once that method failed or circumstances changed, he switched to the next most effective method. He adjusted his approach as his men and resources dwindled. As he sat on a bridge bleeding out, the only option available to him, his last-ditch effort, was to pull out his pistol and start firing at a tank. This was all he had left.

This man was determined, and makes me reflect on my own life. Do I have determination like that? Am I giving my all, even if I don’t have much left? If I can’t run, am I at least walking toward where I need to go? When I can’t walk, am I crawling?

There’s much work to be done. We’ll have setbacks. Our resources and assets will change, reducing or increasing our capability to do things at a given point in time. Are we letting the loss of those things, or a self-defeating attitude get in the way from us making progress toward where we need to go? Don’t stop. Keep pushing forward, even if it’s at a crawl.

This Monday is Memorial Day. There are a whole lot of men and women who gave their all for us; some didn’t make it back, while others are no longer what they used to be. Thank a vet today.

Just a reminder…after Memorial Day, I’ll be switching to a once-a-week posting format. Have a happy and safe holiday weekend!

May 20, 2019May 19, 2019

Playing Paintball With No Paintballs

After graduating from college I moved back home and worked construction to help pay off my school loans. During this time I helped out with the youth group at church on Tuesday nights and sometimes for weekend events.

One time that autumn our youth group went paintballing. I had never been paintballing before, so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect and how much ammo I should buy. We played a couple of games, and I ended up not doing a whole lot of shooting, so I was able to make my ammo last most of the day. We played a few types of games on a couple of different courses, and then it was time for our last match of the day.

We had played a few games of capture the flag, but this time was a different variation. There was a really cool stockade fort that looked like something you’d see in the American frontier, and it was surrounded by a number of trenches that more or less served as a moat. Rain from the previous night made the trenches nasty and muddy, and there were still large puddles in many areas of the trenches. The stockade had a large courtyard, and in the courtyard stood a large stake with a flag on it. The only way for the assaulting team to win was to grab the flag off the stake without getting shot. If the flag was still on the stake when time ran out, the defending team won.

Since I was low on ammo, I couldn’t be much help in any kind of assault on the stockade. I noticed that the stake with the flag was near one of the trenches, so I decided I’d try to sneak through the trenches and go for the flag.

It took forever. I stayed low so people in the stockade wouldn’t know I was there. Stealth made for slow going, though. Every now and then I’d be able to take a pot shot at an opponent, or I’d be able to lay down some covering fire while a teammate tried something. I wasn’t able to help for very long though. I ran out of ammo. I was in the middle of a paintball match without having any paintballs.

I focused on the fact that the objective of the game wasn’t to shoot the most paint, but to capture the flag. Although it wasn’t the most natural thing to do, I pressed forward with a paintball gun that was little more than a decoration. I slogged through the mud until I finally arrived as close to the stake as the trench would take me. I waited until I heard a bit of a skirmish nearby, and rolled up out of the trench behind some cover. Now that my secret was out, I had to move fast; I sprinted toward the stake while shooting harmless bursts of CO2 in the general direction of defenders up on the stockade. The flag was just feet away!

I didn’t even get close. I got lit up with paintballs. I was muddy, wet, cold, and suddenly out of the game. Time expired, and the defending team won.

It was an important lesson, though. As you go through your Christian life, you’re going to encounter situations you didn’t anticipate, and you’re going to feel unprepared for them. During those times it’s important to keep your eye on the goal. In this example, I didn’t need to have paintballs to help our team win a game of capture the flag. Don’t be distracted by things that seem like they should matter, but in the end have little or no bearing on whether or not you obtain your objective.

I’m not sure what your contribution to the Kingdom of God is, but don’t fall into the trap of thinking that you only have one thing to offer. If your primary means of service is sidelined for some reason, either temporarily or permanently, look around at other ways you can get in the game. This may be your opportunity to try something you wouldn’t have tried otherwise.

If something has recently sidelined your usual means of serving and you find yourself “playing paintball with no paintballs,” keep your eye on the objective. You’re still in the fight.

May 16, 2019May 15, 2019

Time To Stand And Fight

The Bible has this way of covering epic events in just a few verses. One such story comes from 2 Samuel 23. The text is describing some of King David’s “Mighty Men.” This section is essentially a hall of fame; these are the bravest or fiercest warriors to serve King David. In just two verses, the author describes the feat of a man named Shammah:

¹¹And after him was Shammah the son of Agee the Hararite. The Philistines had gathered together into a troop where there was a piece of ground full of lentils. So the people fled from the Philistines. ¹²But he stationed himself in the middle of the field, defended it, and killed the Philistines. So the Lord brought about a great victory.

The text is light on details, but we can glean some of the important points. In an environment of panic and fear, everyone started running away. For all we know, Shammah initially ran away right along with everyone else. What we know is that at some point he looked around and saw his countrymen fleeing the enemy, and he decided he was in a position to do something about it.

There’s so much that’s left out. Was he trying to simply buy some time to give his comrades the opportunity to escape, or was he committed to putting a stop to this terror, right here and right now? If he was running away with everyone else, he probably clenched his fists as his sprint slowed, then came to a stop. It doesn’t seem like there was anything special about this particular place, but this was the point in Shammah’s life when he decided to take a stand. Turning to face the Philistines, he may have thought to himself “This is it. Enough is enough. It’s time to fight.”

Taking first one step, then another toward the enemy army, his insolence was an affront to the Philistine warriors. First they sent out one man, then another, to deal with this ingrate. He likely dealt with them one at a time at first. As he struck them down, they sent pairs, then trios, but he dispatched them all. Then they came in droves. We don’t know how it happened; it doesn’t even say what kind of weapon(s) he had available, but considering the feats of the other “Mighty Men,” the list is not an easy one to get your name onto. By making this list, his feats of bravery, skill, and boldness put him in famous company.

We’ve all got battles of our own. You might witness some sort of injustice that you have the power to (legally) rectify. You may have the means, connections, or resources to provide new opportunities where they are desperately needed. Maybe right now all you have is vision and passion. There are overwhelming odds everywhere, but the drive within you has been building and building. When will it happen? At what point will you say “This is it. Enough is enough. It’s time to act”?

It’s time to stop running and take a stand. The army on your heels is fearsome, but if God called you to action, don’t be discouraged. Turn and face it, take your first steps toward it, and watch God work. Station yourself in the middle of the field, defend it, and allow God the opportunity to bring about a great victory today.

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April 25, 2019July 7, 2019

It’s Not Just About You (Part 2 of 2)

The guy in the back with the dorky pose…don’t know him

The sun came out for our second day on the whitewater. The rain and gloom had passed, and we were all much more relaxed now that we had survived the first day of paddling. The mood lifted once the gray skies, drizzle, and apprehension gave way to sunshine and confidence.

As far as the water level, this was a perfect scenario; it was an April weekend that followed a large amount of rainfall in New York’s Adirondack Mountains, but the warmer temperatures and rain helped melt a lot of the snow, which also ran into the river. The result was a river so swollen with churning whitewater that even many of the local guides had never seen it quite this big.

Our second day was a little different from the first. This time we linked up with one of the local outfits that knew the river pretty well, and we stuck close to them for a collective “safety in numbers” advantage. Laura was still our raft’s captain, and I was still paired with her to project the voice commands a bit further, but we rotated some of the paddlers around between boats.

In the afternoon, the local boat was in front of us, and then the next two rafts were ours. As we came around a sharp bend in the river, all the color drained from our faces. Spanning two thirds of the river was a gigantic standing wave that had a nasty rip curl at the top. It was a freak river feature that could only occur when extreme amounts of water shot through that section of the waterway. The guides didn’t know it was there, and none of us out-of-towners expected to see anything like it.

The local boat saw it too late, and all they could do was try to paddle through it head-on. It was too much for them; the boat got flipped right away and everybody got dumped in the chilly water. The rest of us paddled for all we were worth to get to the safer route. We safely made it past the wave, then surveyed the damage. Since we were the first boat on the scene, we made for the biggest group of helmets bobbing in the water. We started grabbing people by the life jackets and pulling them aboard. The raft behind us picked up the guide, but we got everyone else. Our kayakers started buzzing around the area picking up dropped paddles, disposable waterproof cameras, and even somebody’s bottle of Coke.

We were very near the capsized raft at that point. I thought back to all the raft-flipping I’d done in the pool during the dull winter months. I must’ve flipped a capsized raft at least 50 times in the pool. All that training was perfect for a moment like this; if I couldn’t use that knowledge and experience now, what was the point of doing it at all? I wanted to go after it…

I actually put my foot up on the rim of the raft to jump into the water. I turned back to tell Laura I was about to go after the raft, but that’s when I realized the state of complete disaster our own raft was in. It was pandemonium. Our raft was meant for eight people, but we only put six of us in it at the start of the day. Now our raft was bogged down with 14 people, only half of which had a paddle. Our raft was a self-bailer, meaning it had holes in the bottom so water that splashed in would drain out on its own. Instead of the normal inch or two of water on the floor, now it was midway up our calves. We were still flying down the river, but we were largely at the mercy of the current, headed towards God-only-knows what kind of waves, whirlpools, or strainers, and nobody knew the plan to meet up with the other rafts.

The people we just picked up were understandably chattering away about what just happened. They loudly thanked us for plucking them from the water, but all their excitement started causing a major communication breakdown for our crew and all we wanted was for them to stop talking! Laura’s tiny voice was yelling, trying to establish some sense of order, but it wasn’t doing much to get through to the newcomers. I was paired with her exactly for the purpose of echoing her commands loud enough for everyone to hear. I wanted so badly to go after the flipped raft, but it would’ve meant leaving them in an even more chaotic situation.

I turned my back on the capsized raft and started echoing Laura’s commands in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear. Our guests quieted down and our crewmembers in the front of the raft, no longer distracted by excited yammering in their ears, were able to hear us and start pointing us in the right direction. Everyone with a paddle dug just about as hard as they could, and we sluggishly moved out of the main current into the calmer waters near the riverbank. In the middle of it all, our trip leader, Tim, paddled his kayak up to the flipped raft and jumped on. I was pretty distracted with the situation in our raft, but the last I saw of him, he was laying on the raft with a big grin, paddling hard and looking like he was having the time of his life. (I know you’ll read this at some point, Tim…you beat me to it!) Anyway, it took awhile, but we eventually gathered all three rafts to reunite the guide and crew with their boat.

It was an adventure, for sure. In the moment, it was absolutely crazy and scary, but even now, more than 15 years later, I bet everyone on our trip remembers that portion of it. The trip had so many fun details that I had to journal about the experience (which is where I looked for a refresher)!

I can’t even tell you how much time I spent practicing how to right a capsized raft while in the pool at college. Most of it was done just for fun, but each time I did it, it helped contribute to the overall muscle memory and cementing the automatic steps that would need to occur when a raft actually flipped over on the river. What better time to use this experience could there possibly be than this opportunity?

Here’s the crux of it all though: just because you’ve focused so much time and effort into training or preparing for a specific type of ministry or situation that you ignore things that are “outside your lane” when God drops them in your path. To truly be a player on God’s team, you need to be willing to do what needs to be done, whatever that may be. Even if you haven’t prepared for a given scenario, He’ll make sure you’re equipped with everything you need when He presents a new challenge to you. The only thing you might be missing is a willing heart, and that’s something only you have the power to control.

March 18, 2019March 25, 2019

Hanging on by a Thread (Part 1 of 3)

Read Part 2 or Part 3

For Christmas 2014 we visited my wife’s folks in northwestern Ohio. Instead of going straight there from Virginia, we drove to see some family near Dayton first. The kids had lots of fun playing with cousins, staying up later than usual, and generally wearing themselves (and us) out. At the end of that visit, we drove about two and a half hours to my in-laws’ place.

I think it was the afternoon of the 26^th or 27^th; I was worn out. There were two Christmas celebrations with two different sides of the family, but my young family had to skip one of them because the kids were worn out, sick, or getting sick. My oldest actually developed an ear infection, so we spent some time in an Urgent Care because of the pain she was in. I was beat, so I was laying on the living room floor, starting to fall asleep.

There were people moving around. My father-in-law, Lee, took a moment to sit down on the couch, put his feet up, and close his eyes. My wife and her mom Pam were moving around the area, working on a few other things as I drifted off.

Then I heard my wife’s worried tone. I don’t remember much of what she was saying, but she was urgently trying to soothe Lee. Pam came rushing over, too, and then there were two worried tones. I opened my eyes to see what was happening, and Lee, still reclining on the couch, looked like he was having a seizure.

I got up and ran over. He was unresponsive, his eyes were fluttering, and his body was spasming. I tried picking him up to lower him to the ground…no easy task when someone’s body goes completely rigid. I laid him flat on the ground, and my CPR training from nearly 20 years prior came rushing back. I checked for breathing, but there didn’t seem like there was any. I retilted his head to try opening his airway, but still nothing. I forgot to do a finger sweep to see if there was anything in his mouth, which ended up causing some complications later. I began doing rescue breathing on my father-in-law.

Finding a pulse can be a tricky thing. When I learned CPR on dummies, we didn’t use the kind that simulated pulses. As a result, we did a pulse check knowing full well there wasn’t going to be one. I tried his neck, I tried his wrist, and I tried his chest. I couldn’t find anything, so by all counts I should have begun doing CPR, but I doubted myself. I thought “well this might be a faint one right here.” In my mind it’s a scary thing to begin chest compressions, because that means someone’s in REAL trouble. I ended up not doing any compressions because I wasn’t thinking objectively; I hadn’t thought about any of this in years and I was scared of messing up.

Somewhere in this sequence we called an ambulance. Thankfully, there was a volunteer fire station not two blocks away, so they arrived very quickly. That time we spent waiting for them seemed like it took forever, though. Between trying to find a pulse, rescue breathing, trying to shoo the kids out of the room, and all the confusion going on, it was chaos. My youngest, who was a little older than a year at the time, crawled over Lee’s legs, cheerfully unaware that anything was wrong, before we got the kids wrangled up.

Once the EMTs arrived I happily yielded to someone who knew a lot more about what to do in this situation. Almost right away after evaluating the situation, they wrapped some kind of band around Lee’s chest, and it began doing chest compressions on its own. We filled in some of the volunteers on what happened, what kind of meds Lee took, etc., all while the EMTs worked on him. It seemed to take awhile, but eventually they prepared to load him into the ambulance. As they were busily moving about, I asked one of them “do we have a pulse?” I was very glad to hear “we do, but it’s weak.”

They loaded Lee into the ambulance, and off they went. I drove Pam to the hospital, chasing right behind. The trip was a short one, thankfully. We went into the ER and eventually met up with the doc on duty, and we told him what we knew. A flurry of phone calls, conversations with doctors, and newly arriving friends of the family followed. This particular hospital wasn’t well equipped to deal with this situation, so they prepared to transfer Lee via helicopter to a larger hospital in Toledo about an hour away by car. Shortly before the helicopter departed, the staff invited a few of us back to where Lee was being prepped for the trip. He was intubated, had IVs and heart monitors in place, and was still unconscious. This was Pam’s opportunity to see Lee one more time before splitting up to travel separately.

After a few moments, we left the ER. Some friends of the family volunteered to drive Pam up to the hospital in Toledo. We went back to the house and got a few things packed for Pam. My wife, deeply concerned about her father, wanted to go along too, so she got ready to leave. In a whirlwind they grabbed a few items and headed out. Once they departed, I was left there with my three young kiddos, just the four of us, in a house that suddenly seemed very quiet, and we didn’t know how long it would be before anyone came back.

Looking back, I didn’t do any chest compressions on Lee even though I probably should have. No, I hadn’t had any refresher training in a long time, but I knew what was next in the sequence. The reason I didn’t do it was because I was so scared of making the wrong decision (starting chest compressions when there was no need to do them) that I ended up making no decision. On the other hand, enough training came back to me to be able to help Lee in the immediate situation until more skilled people arrived. Ultimately the EMTs and volunteers’ speedy arrival was crucial in Lee living long enough to open his eyes again, but for the next few days we weren’t sure if that was going to happen.

You have to train now for things that will happen in the future. By the time you get there and need the knowledge, it will be too late to learn something and start new habits. I’m not talking strictly in the sense of emergency response, but for difficult and trying times in general. They’re coming. How do you react when things go sideways? What are you spending your time thinking about, moving toward, and taking steps to become? When hard times come, do you dig harder into devotions and prayer, or stop doing them altogether? If your track record is to be considered your training regimen, have you been training yourself to turn to God, or away from him?

Lee’s chances of survival were dropping the longer I hesitated. Even though I knew what I should be gearing up to do, I didn’t start doing it because I wasn’t confident about his pulse. The things you’ve spent time repeating, drilling into yourself, come back to you though, and you can draw on them when you need them. What do you do repetitively and regularly today in order to prepare yourself for when you’ll need it in the future?

Read Part 2 or Part 3

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February 21, 2019March 3, 2019

Refuse To Be Left Behind

I’m gonna skip ahead a little bit on our Olympic adventure.

My buddy and I woke up at a rest stop on our first day in Utah after snoozing in sleeping bags in the car. Our breath had condensed and frozen on the windows overnight. We were only about an hour away from Salt Lake City. After all the driving of the past two days, we were excited to be so close, so we got ready for the day and headed out.

Our breath condensed and froze on the car’s windows overnight

Just arriving in the area was thrilling. Olympic signs and venues were all over the place. Ski jumps, the Olympic rings, extra decorations, it was great. As we drove on the highway through the city, a lot of the buildings were decorated with massive posters of winter sports. We drove into the city, parked, and walked around downtown, happy to be done driving long distances for a bit. The weather was gorgeous; sunny and warm. We saw the Mormon Temple, some of the other local sights, got some donuts, and toured the State Capitol, where there was a traveling exhibit of the Declaration of Independence.

We were super excited to finally be at our destination, but we still had to figure out where we were going to sleep that night. A little after noon we drove out of the city and toward some public land. As it turns out, the public land in that area is much higher in elevation. Added elevation brings lower temperatures and more snow.

As we drew near the place we intended to camp, we stopped at a ranger station to get some more info. Following their directions, we drove until reaching the end of the line; past a certain point they stopped plowing the road. Snowmobiles were all over the place. The only other way in was on foot.

My buddy parked the car in the parking lot and the two of us broke out our cross-country skis. Between the weather and the time of day, visibility was starting to drop and it was going to start getting dark soon. We needed to find a campsite quickly, and we didn’t have time to be too choosy about what spot to use. The two of us skied in, found a spot, then skied back out to the car to grab our gear. We were both decent skiers at the time, but neither of us had ever skied with heavy packs before. They throw off your balance and make it much trickier!

We returned to our site and stomped down the snow to make a spot for the tent. We set up the tent, broke out the stove, and started heating up dinner while unpacking and arranging the rest of our gear for the night. Between not having much to do after dark and still being accustomed to East Coast time, we cracked open and tossed some footwarmers into the sleeping bags and were in for the night a little after 7:30 pm.

Just as a refresher, up until this point in my life the only other time I remember sleeping outside was in a tent in a neighbor’s backyard in the summer as a kid. Now I’m sleeping in a tent in the Wasatch Mountains in February as the snow/sleet falls around us. After sleeping in a car for the past two nights, it was a nice change to be able to stretch out all the way. I slept pretty well until the coyotes started howling later at night. For anyone accustomed to hearing them, you know that there’s nothing to worry about, but if you’re not used to them, you start wondering just how long it will take for a determined coyote to rip through a flimsy tent.

I’d be lying if I told you that I wasn’t afraid of doing what we were doing. It’s one thing to talk like you’re going to do something that stretches you, but it’s something else entirely to do it. Driving from New York to Utah is an adventure in itself, but at least during that whole time, you’ve got a car…with heat, a roof, and a trunk full of stuff. Now we had a tent, sleeping bags, and whatever we could carry in our packs, and we set up camp in a spot that, for all we knew, was at the bottom of a mountain that was ready to trigger an avalanche. And it was snowing.

Why on earth would I do this?

I was willing to do it because this was a once-in-a-lifetime chance. I refused to be left behind. I was in college with few or no other responsibilities, the Winter Olympics were happening in my country, I had the opportunity to go see them, and I had a friend that was willing to do the same crazy thing. In the 17 years since that trip, no similar opportunity has come around again for me.

For just a moment, think about your life and the choices you regret. Often the things that come to mind first are the things you did not do. For everyone, even Christ-followers, there are things you wish you would’ve done differently. Think about the choices that lie before you now, or that you’ll have to address soon. One day you might pause to reflect on them, too. At different times in our lives, everyone’s got a “thing,” an idea that nags at them even when they try to shake it. Many times this is God’s nudge, saying “hey, I want you to do this.” You probably don’t know what will happen if you do it. Maybe you do. Some day you might be in Heaven, talking face to face with the creator of the universe. “Remember when I prompted you to do that thing?” If you have regrets about not doing something now, imagine what it will be like then.

Don’t feel bad about being scared; everybody’s scared of something. Letting fear stop you from doing or being a part of big things is where you start missing out. Don’t let a fear of being fearful paralyze you and prevent you from taking the next step that God’s called you to take.

Refuse to be left behind.

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October 25, 2018December 27, 2023

Go Back to What You Were Taught

A couple of guys during lifeguard training

At age 15, I started lifeguard classes. The group of us lifeguard trainees had an instructor named Linda. Linda was our teacher for everything from lap swimming to academics, first aid and CPR to practicing hands-on rescue techniques in the pool. There was an enormous amount of material to learn, and she was a very hard instructor. During the course, she learned the weaknesses of all the students in the course, and she would ask us the questions she knew we’d have difficulty answering, both as individuals and as a group.

That was a very strange summer; one of the students was a pastor, and he had a pretty busy schedule. My family took a vacation outside the country for a few weeks, and I also attended a youth convention in Colorado. There were a few other scheduling conflicts too, if I recall correctly. As a result, our training schedule was pretty chaotic and wildly inconsistent. Whenever we convened for our first class in awhile, we had to review what we had learned up until that point. We had to practice the first aid and CPR skills once again. We had to get back in the pool and return to our habit of lap-swimming. All of those “first-in-a-long-time” classes provided opportunities for us to demonstrate how much we forgot or didn’t know.

During the reviews, and then during the regular classes, Linda would pose questions in ways that made you question what you thought you knew about the material. You’d go to blurt out an answer because you thought it was an easy question, but she asked it in a way that made you second-guess yourself. As time went on, though, the material became ingrained in our minds and in our muscle memory. We became confident in our knowledge and our actions, and we were able to face increasingly complex challenges.

Linda was a hard instructor, yes, but if I had the choice to go back and do it differently, I would not. I believe that the lessons Linda taught saved lives, and I’m sure that people retained the skills she taught them very well because of the way she did it. I’ll write more about it in a later post, but almost 20 years after I first learned these skills from Linda, long after my certifications had expired, I found myself in a situation where someone’s life depended on me remembering what I learned in those courses. My most recent refresher classes were with a different instructor, but when I needed the knowledge the most, I didn’t think of my most recent refreshers, I thought back to Linda’s instruction. The teachings came flooding back to me, exactly when I needed them urgently, and it’s my belief that I thought of her teaching rather than others’ because of the fervor, the absolute intensity with which the knowledge was drilled into my head, which was a hallmark of Linda’s courses.

If you are a Christian, you have been filled with the Holy Spirit, and are now capable of doing things that you cannot accomplish on your own. You have been commissioned by God to do great things. You can have an impact on an international level if you let Him use you. But as you press on with, or as you begin, this journey, don’t forget the basics. Study God’s word with fervor. Learn from a trustworthy teacher. As you go through your Christian life, you will encounter things that are lies, that are deceptions, and that are downright dangerous. When you find yourself in those situations, your response will come from the training you’ve had and the instruction you’ve received. Reputable Bible teachers, wise and trusted Christian friends, preachers and authors will all have an influence on the way you think and the way you perceive things. In the course of doing great things, don’t neglect these disciplines. You have to remember though, that if you want the answers to be there when you need them most urgently, you have to put in the time up front.

If it’s not your regular practice, dare greatly by cracking open your Bible and by praying to God about what’s on your mind. You might need to get your spiritual house in order before you move on to amazing things.