Pain

This evening - minutes into a project in the garage - I smacked my thumb with a hammer. I immediately felt the pain shoot through my left hand and into my wrist. Although there was little pain in my thumb, I could feeling the throb.

Dropping the hammer on the floor, I walked to the far corner of the garage to assess the damage. Momentarily I waved my hand in the air and grit my teeth together in pain, Then, I calmly exclaimed (to myself), "That really hurt!".

Walking over to my workbench I decided to grab a pry bar. Except, in the moment, I couldn't remember what a pry bar was called. What's more, I couldn't remember where my pry bars were located. I probably stood in front of my workbench for two minutes trying to gather my thoughts. As I rummaged through a cabinet - and then a shelf - I continued to struggle with my thoughts. Looking directly at my pry bar I asked myself (audibly), "What am I looking for?".

Seconds later - finally with a pry bar in hand - my mind cleared and I came to a realization. I was unable to think clearly because of the momentary pain that I was dealing with.

The reality is that when we face pain - momentary or long-lasting - we struggle to think and act in a rational way. Think about it, if you have ever faced overwhelming pain - physically, emotionally, or otherwise - your pain takes precedence. Soon the thought of your pain is unshakable and it begins to overshadow all other rational thoughts. You may even find that your normal actions are overcome by the reality of your painful experience.

And when we consider the reality of our world today it is undeniable that countless people are hurting. So many individuals are dealing with the painful scars and experiences of their past, struggling with the painful reality that surrounds them, fearful of the painful and uncertain future that awaits them.

Could it be that the pain that is overwhelming our world today is causing many to think and act in confusion? Could it be that the anger and aggression that we see so prevalent in our world today is brought about by the pain that so many are dealing with every day?

This pain is leading to more hurt.

And this hurt is leading to more pain.

And this pain is leading to more hurt.

Which will only lead to more pain.

And this will continue to build more and more.

Until someone steps up and stops the cycle.

At some point someone must step forward and absorb the hurt of the world.

I believe that this is the particular call of The Church around the world today. You see, as followers of Jesus, we are the only ones equipped to step up to absorb the hurt. Because, as followers of Jesus, we are the only ones that do not have to keep the hurt of society - the pain of the world in our lives.

As followers of Jesus are given the supernatural ability to absorb the hurt and then to turn it over to Jesus.

Will it be painful? Yes. Will it cause us pain? Yes. However, the hurt - and the pain - that we face is temporary and - as we walk with Jesus - it will only draw us closer to Him as we turn it all over to Him and as He takes it all away.

This scene from "The Green Mile" is a visual illustration of the way we - as The Church - can take the pain of a hurting world and turn it over to Jesus in a spiritual way.

So, are you prepared to absorb the pain? 

Who do you know that is hurting right now? 

Who are you praying for God to lead you to? 

Someone must step forward and absorb the hurt of the world. 

As followers of Jesus only we are equipped.

A Bit Too Complicated

Sometimes I wonder if we are making things a bit too complicated. I tell people all the time that I am not a very smart person but that I believe this is beneficial to me. See, as a leader in the church I often look at some of the things that we are doing - things that seem to take so much of our time, resources, and attention - and I wonder why we are making everything so complicated.

Late last night I was up watching television when a commercial came on advertising the Bluebird bank card from American Express, Although I have seen this commercial dozens of times, last night the opening line caught my attention.

What if there was a new way to deal with money, that focused less on fees and more on what matters?

As I listened to this commercial I could not help but think about the church and what seems to be a very confused and complicated approach to the church today.

What if there was a new approach to church, that focused less on programs and more on what matters?

As I read the Gospel of Matthew, there are two points where Jesus quotes Hosea 6:6, "I desire mercy not sacrifice" (Matthew 9:13 and Matthew 12:7)

Then in Matthew 15:1-3; "...some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!” Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?"

The way I see it, we are either going to break tradition of the modern day church or we are going to break the command of God. We must open our minds to the best ways to reach our culture - while holding on to the commands of God. We must open our hearts to love those who are hurting and in need in the world around us - loving the lost more than we love our church traditions. We must be willing to loose our traditions rather than allowing one more soul to be lost.

Sometimes I wonder if we are making things a bit too complicated. Jesus gave us some very pointed, very direct commands; love God and love people - love one another as I have loved you. So, I encourage us - as the church - to make things less complicated and start reaching the world.

Incomplete

Last weekend Addison and I were looking for something to do and so we pulled out a puzzle to work on. When we went to the closet to find a puzzle I saw the normal puzzles that we do, the 24-piece puzzles and decided that this was the day that we finally pull out the big one, the 1000-piece puzzle.


It took us a few minutes to turn over all the pieces and develop some sort of organization, and in a short time we had begun. It didn't take much persuasion to get Kim in on the puzzle action. Before long we had completed the frame of the puzzle and began to work on small portions at a time.

Four days later we were approaching completion on the puzzle when we realized that out of the 1,000 pieces needed to complete the puzzle, we had 999. One piece short! If you have ever felt like you were missing something, like you are 99.9 percent there but just can seem to achieve that last .1 percent, you must know how we felt. 

I wish there was a happy end to this story, there isn't. We looked all over the dining room for that last piece, we look in, under and around chairs, we looked under and around tables, we walked around portions of the house, looked in the game closet, and several drawers. The puzzle was disassembled on a Thursday having achieved a 99.9 percent completion.

Light: the way out of the cave

Years ago my friend and I went spelunking, that is, exploring a cave. We planned it out the day before and prepared with a map in hand and two flashlights.


Once inside the cave we began to follow the bright orange arrows that pointed the way in and out of the cave. Once we reached the back of the cave we turned around and began following the arrows back to the opening of the cave (there only one in and out of this particular cave).

I would venture to say that we both felt an emptiness in our stomachs when the bright orange arrows pointed to a dead end somewhere near the middle of the cave. This realization was followed shortly by the realization that we had left the map of the cave in the car, and promptly by the failure of both flashlights.
Soon we found ourselves running into dead ends within the cave at every turn. As we pressed on we grew more tired and more frustrated. It seemed as if everything that we did resulted in us getting lost even further.

Although we knew that there was only one way in and out of this cave, we knew that we must do something or else we may grow too tired, too cold, and too hungry inside of this cave. We began to pound on the walls of the cave, listening for a hollow echo. It did not take too long before we saw a faint glimmer of light coming from the crack in one of the cave walls. Needless to say, we did not stop hammering away at that wall until we had broken through.

That crack in the wall of the cave was our hope, it was what we had been searching for. The light coming in was our salvation. Because, after we broke through we not only saw the light of the sun, we felt the warmth of the summer air, and I saw my dad coming toward the mouth of the cave with water, a rope, and a light. He was only minutes away from entering the cave to come and find us. Thankfully, we were able to find our way our before he had to locate us himself, not to mention the police and rescue workers and their helicopter.

It is much the same with us as we live here on earth. So many are searching for the Light, they are looking for their salvation from this cold, dark, weary place. So many people have been putting in so much of their energy and time looking for the "way out", looking for the "light". Jesus said in John 8:12: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” What's more, Jesus said in Matthew 5:14 that anyone that follows Him are "the light of the world."

If you are a follower of Christ it is your responsibility, your privilege, and your honor to share this light, the light that is Jesus Christ with all those around you. If you are not yet a follower of "The Light", take this glimpse of the hope and don't give up, pursue it, research it, and don't give up until you experience the light of Jesus Christ for yourself.