Not Fair!

Yesterday I spent the day tieing up some loose ends and running errands with Jackson. By the end of the day I was ready to have a little fun and didn't want to fix dinner myself. So, I decided it was time for a trip to Dave and Buster's. I figured Monday night would be slow and enable Jackson and I to play the games crowd free.

I was right. Only a handful of people were there so Jackson and I went to work on the skee ball, pop a shot, and any other game that caught his eye. After about 30 minutes our card was nearly spent so I convinced Jackson to play the horse racing game again. It was a game that could entertain 12 people, but you only needed two to start. The object was to roll billiard sized balls into three different holes marked "walk," "trot," and "gallop." Which hole you made it into determined how quickly you made it to the finish line. The nice thing about the game was the 50 tickets given out to the winner. Earlier we had cashed in since we were the only two players. As we sat down and started the game, I had that same outcome in mind.

Naturally, I had to help Jackson a bit. It's a tricky game for a 2 year old. So as I carelessly rolled my ball up the game board with little urgency, I would then turn and assist Jackson with his roll. After about 6 rolls, I heard "down the stretch they come" which signaled the race was nearing an end. But just a few seconds later, the bell rang and it was over. I thought I must have had some good last rolls and proceeded to look for my tickets to be spit out. But to my surprise, nothing.

Then, I turned and looked to the end of the game - some 20 feet away - and sitting at the first chair was a 12 year old boy who had been wandering the game floor since we had arrived. He was looking at me with a sly smile. Just before the game started, he had jumped on the first chair knowing he could cash in.

My first reaction was, "no way did he just do that." How could he take these 50 tickets away from my 2 year old son? Look at how many tickets he has! This can't be fair. I quickly burried my frustration and proceeded to the prize room with our meezly 250 tickets. After 20 minutes in the room, I realized that my son wasn't missing those 50 tickets. He didn't care about the big, expensive items. He was happy with the orange and blue mini basketball he had picked out.

My son showed me something that night. Although life is unfair and full of disappointments, we can still find plenty of good things to be happy about. We can choose to look around and see what we don't have or didn't get this Christmas season, or on the other hand, we can look beyond the big stuff and find the small, yet significant treasures that mean the most. Like spending an evening with your child.

Time Out

The holidays are always a great time to visit family and friends. We traveled to Kansas last week to visit my family. It had been a while since I had seen two of my brothers. It didn't take long before we were joking around and carrying on - just like old times.

But after I gave my younger brother a hard time about something, he jokingly responded with what he thought was a harmless, "shut up." What my brother had forgotten was that his two year old and my two year old were in the same room. I quickly reminded him of the fact and we all agreed that he deserved a "time out." Later that day, however, he slipped again and said the same two words. So, it was back to the corner. He knew his mistake a moment after the words left his mouth.

This experience reminded me about the words in James 3. "If we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could control ourselves in every other way." Our tongue is a powerful thing and when it is left to just our control, trouble always follows. The key is to continually pray for self-control (one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit) and fill your heart with uplifting things so that positive words will flow out of your mouth.

I wish that my brother's mistakes had no ill effects. But not surprisngly, my son repeated that phrase more than once the next day. His time outs were a powerful reminder of the "wild fire" effects that our tongue can have. I know I won't be perfect in this area but it is up to me to keep God in control of my life and practice my own self control as much as possible.

Sit, wait, wonder

It was Thursday at 1am and Candace came running to the bedroom shrieking and pleading for me to help with the dog. Wrigley, our dog, had come to the back door with a opossum in his mouth. Not exactly the cleanest of critters for him to bring to us, but it didn't surprise me as the neighbors had warned us of a sighting a few weeks ago.

On crutches, I was pretty useless in dealing with this problem (removing the opossum and cleaning the dog) so I suggested that Candace give the dog a bath and get me the video camera so I could film the opossum for a few minutes to see if he would rise up from his charade and scamper off the deck. I pulled up a chair and turned on the camera. There I would sit, wait, and wonder. Fifteen minutes later, I was sitting by the back door and losing hope that I would witness the success of one of nature's most interesting defense mechanisms. Finally, I went to bed knowing the fate of the opossum.

Early the next morning, the opossum was still there as my father-in-law stopped by to dispose of our dog's catch in a sealed trash reciptical. The opossum's strategy backfired. Wrigley didn't walk away from him and he wasn't able to come to life and climb the spruce to safety.

As I reflected on my fifteen minutes in front of the back door, I thought of Christ's ressurrection. After countless times of Jesus warning his closest friends and followers of what he had to do, you would have thought that a few of them would still have hope of his return. Instead, his disciples were scared and bewildered following the crucifixion. And even after Christ rose on the third day, it took some convincing on Jesus' part so that the disciples would believe he was really alive.

Isn't it great that we don't have to sit, wait, and wonder? Jesus is alive! And so is our hope - because of Him. Too often I take for granted my hope for the future. I watch the news and read the paper and shake my head. But in the end, I am not worried because my future is secure. I don't have to sit, wait, and wonder if things will get better. All because Jesus did rise again.

RSVP

A few weeks ago, I received an invite to a "getting to know the neighbors" dinner. Our back yard neigbors, Jerry and Mary, were opening their home and wanted to connect 5 of the families during dinner. I made plans to attend with Jackson as Candace had to work. And at 6pm we walked over to their home with our covered dish and rang the doorbell. Mary answered and we greeted her and asked if the dinner was still on. Her reaction was puzzling as she mentioned that she was hoping that I would have called. I apologized and realized I had missed something. Then Mary told me that no one had RSVP'd and they had postponed it. Oops.

Mary asked us in and we went to the back deck and spent time chatting with them. It was nice to get to know them, but as Jackson and I became hungrier by the minute (and the potato salad by itself wasn't the meal I had in mind), we decided to head home and find something to eat.

Looking back, I am reminded of the story Jesus told about the Wedding Banquet. The king sent out invites for his son's wedding but they refused and after further rebellion by his servants, the king said "go to the street corners and invite anyone you can find." The result? The wedding hall was full of people, both good and bad.

I wondered today, what's that mean for me? What does this story mean for our church? Well, the one thing that sticks out from Matthew 22 is the word "anyone." In our efforts to invite people to church, and most importantly, to Jesus we can't forget that word. I hope that in my life I am always looking for anyone to share my story with. I often pray for God to show me someone that I need to talk with, but maybe I should just start with anyone.

Wrong Question

I remember four years ago sitting in a Dr's office and on the edge of tears wondering, "why is this happenning to me?" I had just been told that I needed major back surgery and it would take a few months to recover from it. The timing seemed all wrong. We were getting close to leaving for Omaha to come start the church plant. Surely God wanted to heal me. Many people prayed and I continued to believe, but on October 31, 2003 I still went under the knife and spent the next 5 weeks in recovery - and another 8 weeks in rehab.

Four years later and I have just went under the scope for my knee - definitely not as bad as the knife in 03 - and I have realized something important. Whenever we are forced to endure hard times, it's an opportunity to ask an important question - "God, what do you want to teach me through this?" Besides, back and knee surgery seem like nothing to the 5 year old enduring kemotherapy for leukemia. We will all have pain, suffering, difficult emotional times, and unusual circumstances, but instead of crying out "why me," we need to ask "what now?"

This doesn't rule out a miracle. It doesn't mean we accept what's going on as a permanent reality. No, it means we have to begin to search for the divine purpose. Is God teaching me something through this? Is he revealing something that I wouldn't have seen otherwise? Does he want to use this as a chance to witness to someone? During our tough times or at the close of them, God always has something amazing in store.

I have already grown through my experience on crutches and who knows what God will do in the next 3 weeks. I pray that God continues to use my bum knee for his purpose. And that I will never stop asking, "God, what now."

No Frogs for Me

I was reading Exodus 8 a few days ago and came upon the story of the plagues. The second plague that God unleashed on Egypt and Pharoh was that of the frogs. We are told that the Nile swarmed with frogs. They were literally everywhere. And when Moses gave Pharoh the choice of when to be relieved of this disaster, Pharoh said "tomorrow."

Now there is a dangerous word. Tomorrow. Instead of choosing to end the plague right away, Pharoh, in a fit of pride, chose to sleep with the frogs. Crazy, huh? Why not end it there? Why not admit defeat? Why not do the right thing right now? Such is the human condition - constantly putting off till tomorrow what we should be doing today.

As I reflected upon my own life, I began to rack up a long list of important things that I had put off. Yes, I have a good excuse right now to put some things off until later, but there is always some excuse readily available. One of those things was quite simple. For quite a while, I had wanted to have a family devotion time. Instead of the three of us reading our Bible's and praying separately, I thought it would be best to set a time for all of us to spend that time together.

It was time to stop saying "tomorrow" and make it happen. So, on Sunday night, we all had our Bibles and read together. We closed our time with a prayer. Monday night came, and at 8:30 (our designated time), we came together again for time with God. It felt good to stop saying tomorrow. It felt good to do the right thing today.

Breaking News

Yesterday afternoon was like every other rehab day for me. After eating lunch, I laid down and strapped my knee in the "legasus" - a machine that slowly raises and lowers my knee to a 70 degree angle. The Dr. wants my leg in there for 6 hours a day. Yes, I said 6 hours. So, I read for a while, then became a bit bored and turned on the tv. Immediately, I began to read the "breaking news" across the bottom of the screen. The news that Steve Pederson was fired as the AD at Nebraska.

I picked up the phone and called my brother in law as I knew he would want to hear the news. We spent time talking about the change and the others needed for the Husker program. I continued to watch as the Chancellor explained his decision, and then proceeded to answer 20 minutes of questions. Towards the end of his time at the mic, I stepped back from the situation and considered the amount of criticism that Pederson has endured. No doubt his decisions, personality, and the nature of his position brought on this criticism. But I can't imagine Pederson thought there would ever be a firesteve.com website.

That website had over 20,000 hits this past weekend, and upon hearing that, I had to check it out. But after watching the press conference, checking out the site, and really thinking about it, I wondered if the creator of that website would allow anyone to critique or judge his job, family, friendships or any other role in his life by the same measure he was judging Pederson - a man he probably has never even met. A man with a family. A man with emotions. A man with dreams.

The web designer, like countless other Husker fans who were posting on message boards and calling into radio shows, forgot about the person they were directing their venom towards. Sports do that to us. I have become caught up in my passion for a game or team and criticized someone because of it. But does that make it ok? That it's just sports?

The answer for me is no. Jesus was clear in Matthew 7 that we shouldn't judge others unless we want to be judged by the same measure. Now I doubt that my words directed at a tv screen in the heat of a game will be of eternal consequence. But I do know that a pattern of critical behavior can spread to other areas of my life and cause me to forget about the real person on the other side of my criticism. I don't want that to happen. And neither does God.

The Rental

I spent the day checking off the last "to do's" before my operation tomorrow (knee to be scoped). One of those things was to call the hospital and double check the time of the surgery and my preparations. The nurse told me a lot of things I already knew, but one of her last questions was something I hadn't covered. "Have you gotten your crutches?" I didn't know that I was suppose to get them. Since I haven't needed them before, I thought they would provide them. Oh well, the nurse instructed me to go to Bakers and rent them, so I did.

As I was hauling them to my car I remembered how much I was dreading having to use them. Just the word crutches has a negative stigma attached to it. But within moments of dreading the crutches, I also realized that it will be a good reminder of my own spiritual condition.

It's not easy to be totally dependant upon God. Before my journey of faith started, I was very independent. I wanted to do it all on my own. I wish I could say that I have learned my lesson, but I still like to take the reins and make it feel like I am in control.

To be totally dependent on God, though, is not like walking with crutches. Your not hobbled or laim. Rather, we can willingly share our joys, burdens, fears and problems with a God who is loving, powerful and gentle. "Come to me, all you who are wearied and burdened, and I will give you rest." Christ wants to both lead us and comfort us in our time of need. He will walk ahead of us and clear the trail, and when we get tired, he will let us lean on him, or better yet, carry us. If these crutches remind me of a God who will do that, then they are worth the hassel.

More than enough

As I was eating dinner tonight and watching the news, I listened to the reporter interview the Omaha Food Bank about their shortage. The reporter explained that gas prices and lack of food drives in the summer have led to the shortage. Higher costs cause most people to just complain, while people who are already in need struggle to get by.
After listening, I went to my pantry and opened it. More than enough. Even with another big gas hike, we wouldn't go hungry. I then remembered the conversation that I had with the service tech on my furnace yesterday. We talked about the need for a more efficient and newer furnace (mine's 30 yrs old). But there are people who don't have any heat source going into this winter. I have more than enough.
This reminds me of one of the most challenging passages in scripture. "I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me." (Matt. 25:45)
Obviously we can't help everyone. But when we have more than enough, then we should move beyond our petty complaints and reach out and lend a hand. Next time I stress about a high bill or unexpected cost, I will go to my pantry. A little perspective never hurt.

The Spider's Web

Last weekend I had a few minutes to kill before an appointment and decided to stop at a garage sale that featured many boxes of books. I picked up a couple that immediately caught my eye and ultimately one more as I saw a small paperback book entitled "Spiders and their Kin." For $.50, I had to have it. I wanted to know more about the eight legged friends that had made their home just outside my garage.

As I was getting into my car a few days earlier, I noticed that a spider had built its web just outside my garage door. Unfortunately for this spider, the web was directly in the path of my car as I backed out. My car took the beautiful work of this spider with me as I left for the day. The next morning, however, as the garage door went up I was pleased to see that the spider had reconstructed its web and it was better than the one before. Plus, the spider had learned its lesson and moved the web closer to the house and out of the path of my car. That web is still there today as it continues to collect the bugs that are trying to make it into my house.

The beauty of God's creation never ceases to amaze me, and in this case, I had to stop and appreciate the spider's ability to persevere, and more importantly, its ability to learn. Instead of spinning the web in the same spot, the spider moved the web to a better location. It may seem presumptious to think that a spider can learn, but even if you categorize it as instinct, it is still worth our admiration.

This is especially true when we consider that nature's instinctive learning compared to a human's spiritual learning skills can sometimes prove to be a mismatch (not in our favor). How often do we experience stress, anger, regret, grief or other emotions as the result of our own doing only to repeat those same actions, which later result in the same consequences? Too often. The Bible and the rest of history tells us that we are poor learners. We love learning the hard way - over and over again.

Th book of Proverbs reminds us that we must constantly be learning in order to grow in our relationship with God. "Wise men and women are always learning, always listening for fresh insights." (Prov. 18:15) The next time I experience a set back in my spiritual journey Iwill remember the spider's web. And as I move forward, I will hopefully move the web closer to my home.

Did you forget me?

On Saturday we all witnessed a game that was less than competitive. Despite their efforts, the Huskers were no match for the Trojans. The game reminded me of a soccer game I officiated two nights earlier. It was an under 10 contest that featured two teams which were very different from each other. One was quick and skilled, while the other was not so quick and still learning the game.

Within two minutes, the skilled team was ahead. After 10 minutes they had three goals. At half time, it was 6 to nothing. As I watched this unfold, it was tough to see eight boys celebrate their dominance while eight others wondered if they would ever have something to cheer about. At the final whistle, it was 12 to nothing. I did my best to console the boys and their coach and reminded them that things would get better.

For us, sometimes we find ourselves watching other people celebrate great things and wonder if God has forgotten us. In Psalm 13, David asks that very question, "how long will you forget me?" I know that I have prayed that before - God, have forgotten my needs? Will you ever give me my moment of celbration.

But as David puts it at the end of Psalm 13, God's love is unfaling. That means He won't forget us. And we can trust in him. And we will have our time to celebrate.

It's Raining, It's Pouring

Last Thursday I traveled to Holdrege to pick up Jackson from his Aunt's. I arrived at dinner time so we enjoyed a pizza hut feast before we left. I thought I would let Jackson play a while longer before we took off, but the weather had different plans. Shortly after dinner, it started pouring outside. I had not checked the forecast and my family didn't have TV yet, so I made a split second decision - leave quickly and try to get ahead of the weather.

Once we left Holdrege, the rained stopped and I thought my strategy worked. However, once I reached Kearney, the sky began to look very scary. I stopped for gas and ran in quickly with Jackson for a pit stop. On my way out I heard the clerk's radio and the storm warning identified the monsoon just outside of Gibbon. I knew it would be close, but pressed on.

Twenty minutes later, the storm had slowed traffic to about 50mph. The hail and wind kicked in and forced me and other drivers to the shoulder for more than a few minutes. When I first pulled over, I turned to Jackson (who was finding it impossible to go to sleep) and told him to pray to Jesus for help. He did. And with every question about the rain and when it would stop, I asked him to pray, and he did. Before long, Jackson was praying without my prompting, and it became obvious that he was calmer than I was. I know he was unaware of how bad the storm was, but I was still amazed. His childlike faith was growing right before my eyes and not only did it comfort me, but it inspired me. No matter what the storm, I hope my faith can be 2 years old a lot more in the future.

Contemplating Yardwork

First off, the answer to last week's question - 3500 (according to Mythbusters).

Yesterday I spent a few hours, as I do every week, mowing and trimming my yard. Plus, I had a few other chores that I came up with to make sure the lawn was looking swell. After I was finished though, one thing was clear; my front yard looked twice as good as the back yard. Because of the abudance of shade and my preference to keep up the front more than the back (expecially with trimming), the back yard as suffered a bit. Fungus has attacked the lawn in the back leaving unsightly brown spots and weeds have crept up along the back fence. But I continue to do just enough with the back yard since I know that less people will see it, and frankly, I am tired of keeping up with it.

It really made me think about our spiritual lives. We all have the areas that are easier to take care of and more visible. Maybe our work performance or our relationship with our friends. Then, there are the things that require more attention and are tougher to keep up with; our family life, our daily time with God, and managing our finances properly. These things will only be seen by a few so instead of doing our best, we are tempted to just get by with the minimum.

The cost of neglegance to our spiritual and home life is much greater, of course, then neglecting our back yard. But I have to say that it is just as easy for us to allow this pattern to develop. If we allow things to go for too long, the results can be disasterous. Jesus told the Pharisees that they were "white washed tombs." That is, they were shiny clean on the outside, but dead on the inside. We should do all we can to avoid this label.

We are usually neglecting something in our spiritual and family life. The only question is, what are you going to do about it? I have recently been asking myself that and doing the hard clean up work necessary to make sure the outside and inside (or front and back yard if you like) match up. The time, energy, and emotion aren't easy to spend, but the price is worth paying if you want your whole life in God's hands.

God's Funny Like That

This Saturday morning God showed me something pretty special. No matter what the circumstances, He is always able to work things out for His good.

About a month ago I started making arrangements for our annual sno cone giveaway at the parade. I wanted to improve the experience and spoke with a new business that was started out of the Cookie Company called "Paradice." I offered our spot and idea with us paying the bill to make the sno cones free. The owner was receptive to the idea and I waited to hear back. But after a couple of weeks, I decided to move forward with the way we have always done it.

To my surprise, the new company along with a baseball team had already made arrangements and in our spot! The owner didn't realize that it was our spot and was sorry, but now I had a new problem. What were we going to do at the parade? Frustrated, I went for a drive and started praying. Then, out of no where, I thought - balloons. So, I ordered balloons with "I love Millard" and our website. Then, the owner of the cookie company offered us free cookies to hand out as well. I had a good conversation with her and felt it was the best thing to accept her gracious invitation.

Then came the parade. The owner of Paradice set up a tent and had the cookies ready. She helped us get things ready and we had a great time of conversation. Unfortunately for her, there was another sno cone stand set up a few feet away. I realized, maybe God wanted us to do something new, and needed to get our attention. After a couple hours of blowing up balloon after balloon, I looked down Millard Ave and was amazed to see our balloons lining the street. You couldn't miss them if you wanted to. Even the volunteers noticed how much better the balloons turned out.

Its amazing how God works things out. Just when you think things have turned out for the worst, He surpises us. God's funny like that.

Reciprocation

After returning from a week in Indy, I was surprised to find that my lawn wasn't all that tall. I knew that we had received 2-3 inches of rain and my sprinklers had been running. Once I examined the lawn a little closer I realized that our neighbors had mowed our lawn with their push mower. The smaller tracks were a dead giveaway.

A day later I saw the two teenage boys playing basketball and stopped to confirm. With a big smile, they said, "yes we did." I told them thanks and asked them how it was (pushing it since I have a rider). For two young, growing boys, it was a breeze.

As I drove away, I realized that something pretty cool had happened. Reciprocation. The week before, our neighbors were gone and we took care of their cat (real hard) and picked up their mail. When I mowed my lawn before they returned, I trimmed theirs, as the sidewalk around their house needed attention.

I didn't expect anything when I did it, as I have done it before. But it was nice to see my act of kindness returned. Its contagious, this kindness thing. And now, I need to pass it on.