If you're anything like me, you find temporary happiness in the latest 'thing'. That could be a new car, new job, new city, etc. You tell your self 'if only I had this job', or 'if I moved away to this cool city' - everything will be complete. The interesting thing here is that after a few weeks the novelty starts to wear off, and you find yourself with a brand new list of 'if onlys'.
One of the big perks of moving to Colorado was the adventure. Aside from spending a year in the mountains and focusing on my relationship with the Lord, I was certain Colorado would be the ticket to overcoming my state of boredom. I mean I'm basically living every pickup truck TV commercial. My hands are getting tough, I wear a rock climbers harness at work, and I carry a pocket knife at all times. I agree, Colorado is the land of milk and honey, BUT - it's not the cure all. At times I find myself right where I left in Jacksonville.
BUT THIS IS THE BEST NEWS EVER!!
My reoccurring boredom and the 'new' losing its novelty points to one thing. The Cross. We are all created with a void, and that void can only be filled by Christ. For whatever reason we constantly try to fill this void with something other than Christ. It never works, and we always find ourselves let down. It's when I seek joy/identity in Christ that I'm sustained. Christ never loses His novelty - I lose focus. The below verse gives me insight as to who I am and what I've been made to do.
1 Peter 2:9 - But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Jesus vs The Economy
Today at church the pastor went through Mark 5. It's in Mark 5 that Jesus drives thousands of demons out of a man. The demons then beg Jesus for permission to enter into a herd of pigs. Jesus obliges, and the demon possessed pigs run down a hill to drown themselves in a lake.
I've recently read this passage on my own, and was frustrated with the part when the pigs died. Not because it was inhumane for the pigs to die, but because these pigs belonged to someone. The passage states that the pigs were two thousand in number. Can you imagine a modern-day farmer losing two thousand pigs in one fell swoop? Now think about how it must have affected the local economy 2000 years ago. Must have been an epic blow to the owner's livelihood as well as the local economy. That would be the equivalent to half of Delta's plane fleet being demolished by a hurricane. The corporation itself, as well as Atlanta, would be in pretty bad shape. Who would allow something like that to happen?
The scripture shows that the local people felt the same way I did about their porky loss. They begged Jesus to leave the area.
Today I realized that I'm missing the point.
When I originally read the passage on my own, I wasn't really affected by the demon possessed man who was healed. My thought was, 'Hmmm, man is healed from two thousand demons.... TWO THOUSAND PIGS WERE KILLED'!
I'm pretty sure heaven's reaction was vastly different. Probably went more like, 'ALLELUIA, A MAN HAS BEEN SAVED! oh yeah, a few pigs caught the brunt-end... But he's healed!!
God is so in love with us that one man's soul is far and away more important than the local economy. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't be surprised if God values one man's soul over the global economy.
See parable of lost coin, prodigal son, etc...
How do our priorities line up with that? Do we care more about a random person's well-being or our 401(k)?
I'm not trying to sound irrational, nor am I saying we should abandon economy and commerce. Just food for thought.
Fast forward two chapters... Jesus returns to the exact same area He had previously been begged to leave. He heals a deaf man. Four thousand people then flock to Him. Jesus feeds them all with 7 loaves of bread and a few small fish. Talk about a picnic.
You say something about some pigs?
I've recently read this passage on my own, and was frustrated with the part when the pigs died. Not because it was inhumane for the pigs to die, but because these pigs belonged to someone. The passage states that the pigs were two thousand in number. Can you imagine a modern-day farmer losing two thousand pigs in one fell swoop? Now think about how it must have affected the local economy 2000 years ago. Must have been an epic blow to the owner's livelihood as well as the local economy. That would be the equivalent to half of Delta's plane fleet being demolished by a hurricane. The corporation itself, as well as Atlanta, would be in pretty bad shape. Who would allow something like that to happen?
The scripture shows that the local people felt the same way I did about their porky loss. They begged Jesus to leave the area.
Today I realized that I'm missing the point.
When I originally read the passage on my own, I wasn't really affected by the demon possessed man who was healed. My thought was, 'Hmmm, man is healed from two thousand demons.... TWO THOUSAND PIGS WERE KILLED'!
I'm pretty sure heaven's reaction was vastly different. Probably went more like, 'ALLELUIA, A MAN HAS BEEN SAVED! oh yeah, a few pigs caught the brunt-end... But he's healed!!
God is so in love with us that one man's soul is far and away more important than the local economy. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't be surprised if God values one man's soul over the global economy.
See parable of lost coin, prodigal son, etc...
How do our priorities line up with that? Do we care more about a random person's well-being or our 401(k)?
I'm not trying to sound irrational, nor am I saying we should abandon economy and commerce. Just food for thought.
Fast forward two chapters... Jesus returns to the exact same area He had previously been begged to leave. He heals a deaf man. Four thousand people then flock to Him. Jesus feeds them all with 7 loaves of bread and a few small fish. Talk about a picnic.
You say something about some pigs?
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Grizzly Lake
Today the 3 roommates and I hiked up to a mountain lake called Grizzly Lake. It was about a 45 minute drive to the trail head, and then an hour and 15 minute hike. The drive was up a 4x4 jeep road. The FJ took care of business.
The hike was incredible! 3 miles with over 1200 ft in elevation gain. It seemed like we hiked through several different ecosystems. At the beginning it was a cobblestone stream in the alpine evergreens. We were surrounded by Christmas trees. As we approached the tree line our surroundings turned to large snow covered rocks. Right before we arrived to the lake we were in 8-10 inches of powder, similar to ski terrain.
The lake was amazing. It looked as though God carved out the lake with an ice cream scoop. Grizzly lake is surrounded by 2000 ft cliffs on all sides, with the south end being a stadium of evergreen trees. The south bowl almost looks like a mountain church of sorts, with the lake being the pulpit. There's a snowmelt aisle and evergreen pews. See the picture below...
I'm becoming more and more captivated by the scenery out here. It's much easier to find my mountainside for solitude when everywhere you look is a landscape painting. Solitude is key, especially when you're constantly surrounded by community. You'll notice that Jesus finds his 'mountainside' after being in large crowds for an extended period.
Being out here for only a month has already changed my perspective a lot. Life is simple and God is good.
The hike was incredible! 3 miles with over 1200 ft in elevation gain. It seemed like we hiked through several different ecosystems. At the beginning it was a cobblestone stream in the alpine evergreens. We were surrounded by Christmas trees. As we approached the tree line our surroundings turned to large snow covered rocks. Right before we arrived to the lake we were in 8-10 inches of powder, similar to ski terrain.
The lake was amazing. It looked as though God carved out the lake with an ice cream scoop. Grizzly lake is surrounded by 2000 ft cliffs on all sides, with the south end being a stadium of evergreen trees. The south bowl almost looks like a mountain church of sorts, with the lake being the pulpit. There's a snowmelt aisle and evergreen pews. See the picture below...
I'm becoming more and more captivated by the scenery out here. It's much easier to find my mountainside for solitude when everywhere you look is a landscape painting. Solitude is key, especially when you're constantly surrounded by community. You'll notice that Jesus finds his 'mountainside' after being in large crowds for an extended period.
Being out here for only a month has already changed my perspective a lot. Life is simple and God is good.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Air Force and Jesus
I should first start this post by saying we are all wretched sinners - every single one of us. It's only by God's grace that we are saved. There is nothing we can do in our 'walk' with the Lord to save ourselves from eternal damnation. It's a free gift, and you don't even have to pay shipping and handling. Romans 3:23-24 says,
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
Something a lot of Christians struggle with is the free grace of God, but then this expectation of living a life that resembles that of Jesus Christ. Perfection. How does it all fit? Lately I've heard a lot about a grace provoked obedience. Basically somebody does you a HUGE favor. The response to said favor is to treat them well and honor them. You treating that person well didn't purchase the favor, it's simple cause and effect.
<Enter the part where I relate the above to cleaning up after 350 campers>
Discipline drives excellence.
Last week we had 250 freshman from the Air Force Academy. The group is part of the Air Force's Christian outreach program (I'm almost certain it isn't funded by the gov't). The group was great, and you could tell they lived very disciplined lives.
Each Sunday the campers 'help' us clean camp by stripping beds and folding clean sheets/blankets in a specific way. Camp lingo for this phenomenon is 'folding bed packs'. I'm generous when I say we typically have a 2% success rate of camper folded bed packs. This means the camp staff gets to go behind each camper to correctly fold the sheets. We re-fold bed packs in between vacuuming and cleaning bathrooms (see: Warrior Princesses below).
Air Force freshman were greatly different than other groups. First of all, their bed pack success rate was at least 60%. It was absolutely amazing to see how well these guys folded bed packs. We give each camper a page long description of how a bed pack should be folded, so it's not completely straight forward.
Even more amazing than their greater success rate was when one of the Air Force cadets saw us correct his bed pack. The cadet walked up to the intern who fixed his mistake and asked what needed correction. Our intern then showed the cadet how to correctly fold the bed pack. The cadet then unfolded the now correctly folded bed pack and refolded it with his newly found instruction. He will never need to know this skill ever again in his life, but he still wanted to adhere to the level of excellence that's expected of him. Pretty amazing huh? What would it look like if we brought this level of discipline to our faith?
Proverbs 1:1-7 talks a lot about knowledge and wisdom. I think a healthy dose of discipline will greatly help in becoming more like Christ.
1 The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:
2 for gaining wisdom and instruction;
for understanding words of insight;
3 for receiving instruction in prudent behavior,
doing what is right and just and fair;
4 for giving prudence to those who are simple,[a]
knowledge and discretion to the young—
5 let the wise listen and add to their learning,
and let the discerning get guidance—
6 for understanding proverbs and parables,
the sayings and riddles of the wise.[b]
7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools[c] despise wisdom and instruction.
All of the above is great and we can only receive things like wisdom, insight, prudence, etc by the grace of God. However, I don't think we should expect them by osmosis. This is where the grace-driven obedience comes to play. It's the response to the favor.
But remember, our good deeds are still tainted. Isaiah 64:6 says,
6 All of us have become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,
and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
Something a lot of Christians struggle with is the free grace of God, but then this expectation of living a life that resembles that of Jesus Christ. Perfection. How does it all fit? Lately I've heard a lot about a grace provoked obedience. Basically somebody does you a HUGE favor. The response to said favor is to treat them well and honor them. You treating that person well didn't purchase the favor, it's simple cause and effect.
<Enter the part where I relate the above to cleaning up after 350 campers>
Discipline drives excellence.
Last week we had 250 freshman from the Air Force Academy. The group is part of the Air Force's Christian outreach program (I'm almost certain it isn't funded by the gov't). The group was great, and you could tell they lived very disciplined lives.
Each Sunday the campers 'help' us clean camp by stripping beds and folding clean sheets/blankets in a specific way. Camp lingo for this phenomenon is 'folding bed packs'. I'm generous when I say we typically have a 2% success rate of camper folded bed packs. This means the camp staff gets to go behind each camper to correctly fold the sheets. We re-fold bed packs in between vacuuming and cleaning bathrooms (see: Warrior Princesses below).
Air Force freshman were greatly different than other groups. First of all, their bed pack success rate was at least 60%. It was absolutely amazing to see how well these guys folded bed packs. We give each camper a page long description of how a bed pack should be folded, so it's not completely straight forward.
Even more amazing than their greater success rate was when one of the Air Force cadets saw us correct his bed pack. The cadet walked up to the intern who fixed his mistake and asked what needed correction. Our intern then showed the cadet how to correctly fold the bed pack. The cadet then unfolded the now correctly folded bed pack and refolded it with his newly found instruction. He will never need to know this skill ever again in his life, but he still wanted to adhere to the level of excellence that's expected of him. Pretty amazing huh? What would it look like if we brought this level of discipline to our faith?
Proverbs 1:1-7 talks a lot about knowledge and wisdom. I think a healthy dose of discipline will greatly help in becoming more like Christ.
1 The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:
2 for gaining wisdom and instruction;
for understanding words of insight;
3 for receiving instruction in prudent behavior,
doing what is right and just and fair;
4 for giving prudence to those who are simple,[a]
knowledge and discretion to the young—
5 let the wise listen and add to their learning,
and let the discerning get guidance—
6 for understanding proverbs and parables,
the sayings and riddles of the wise.[b]
7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools[c] despise wisdom and instruction.
All of the above is great and we can only receive things like wisdom, insight, prudence, etc by the grace of God. However, I don't think we should expect them by osmosis. This is where the grace-driven obedience comes to play. It's the response to the favor.
But remember, our good deeds are still tainted. Isaiah 64:6 says,
6 All of us have become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,
and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
Picture from Agnes Vail falls... Yup, it's snowing in October.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Dude... You're going to mess up three times. Tonight!
If someone told me I was going to screw up three times in one night, I'd have two things going for me. One - The foresight of your prediction would keep me sharp. Two - My pride itself would make me want to prove you wrong!
To take that a step further... If you told me I would lie about being your friend three times in that same night, surely I would be able to abstain. Right? All you Sunday school warriors probably know where I'm going with this...
Using the above scenario, and add to the fact that I call myself a Christian. One who adheres to a set of morals and ideals, and tries my best to uphold them. So now I've got 4 forces preventing me from falling into your hypothetical prediction - foresight, pride, knowledge of the exact prediction (I guess this would be foresight squared?), and my own moral convictions. There's no way I'm screwing this one up...
However, ALL these things combined are not enough to counter-act the sinful nature. At least the sinful nature of a professional super-Christian who has the sweetest nickname ever... The Rock (much cooler than Dwayne Johnson, as his nickname was self-dubbed).
So here we have this guy Peter, 'The Rock', who was warned twice by Jesus about denying his allegiance to the Christ. This was after Peter charismatically claimed he would never leave Jesus' side.
Matthew 26:34 says,
34 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.”
Warning bell number two comes in verse 41,
41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (This is where we break into chorus of the song "Light the Fire")
Interesting that Jesus highlights an inner battle between the flesh and the spirit. Sounds familiar, I can relate.
We see Peter's inner battle manifested physically in verses 69-74. Peter's weak flesh is shown when he denies even knowing of Jesus' existence! Keep in mind this is the man who holds the keys to the Pearly Gates... Also interesting is that Matthew portrays these denials to have a very short succession. To me this compounds Peter's inability to control his flesh. Either that or Matthew was taking a jab at his buddy (just kidding).
In verse 75 we see Peter's 'ah-ha' moment,
75 Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken:“Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.
So you've got the Babe Ruth of Christians who can't even refrain from repeating the same sin 3 times over a 5 hour period. How much more difficult will it be for the rest of the flock?
The bad news is that even the best Christian is a wretched, uncontrollable sinner. The good news is Ephesians 2:8-9...
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
Pretty sweet huh?
Below are a few pictures of yesterday's hike to Hancock Lake. Pretty sure God took a few more minutes making Hancock Lake than he did on Reno, NV.
To take that a step further... If you told me I would lie about being your friend three times in that same night, surely I would be able to abstain. Right? All you Sunday school warriors probably know where I'm going with this...
Using the above scenario, and add to the fact that I call myself a Christian. One who adheres to a set of morals and ideals, and tries my best to uphold them. So now I've got 4 forces preventing me from falling into your hypothetical prediction - foresight, pride, knowledge of the exact prediction (I guess this would be foresight squared?), and my own moral convictions. There's no way I'm screwing this one up...
However, ALL these things combined are not enough to counter-act the sinful nature. At least the sinful nature of a professional super-Christian who has the sweetest nickname ever... The Rock (much cooler than Dwayne Johnson, as his nickname was self-dubbed).
So here we have this guy Peter, 'The Rock', who was warned twice by Jesus about denying his allegiance to the Christ. This was after Peter charismatically claimed he would never leave Jesus' side.
Matthew 26:34 says,
34 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.”
Warning bell number two comes in verse 41,
41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (This is where we break into chorus of the song "Light the Fire")
Interesting that Jesus highlights an inner battle between the flesh and the spirit. Sounds familiar, I can relate.
We see Peter's inner battle manifested physically in verses 69-74. Peter's weak flesh is shown when he denies even knowing of Jesus' existence! Keep in mind this is the man who holds the keys to the Pearly Gates... Also interesting is that Matthew portrays these denials to have a very short succession. To me this compounds Peter's inability to control his flesh. Either that or Matthew was taking a jab at his buddy (just kidding).
In verse 75 we see Peter's 'ah-ha' moment,
75 Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken:“Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.
So you've got the Babe Ruth of Christians who can't even refrain from repeating the same sin 3 times over a 5 hour period. How much more difficult will it be for the rest of the flock?
The bad news is that even the best Christian is a wretched, uncontrollable sinner. The good news is Ephesians 2:8-9...
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
Pretty sweet huh?
Below are a few pictures of yesterday's hike to Hancock Lake. Pretty sure God took a few more minutes making Hancock Lake than he did on Reno, NV.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Met Jesus in a Vacuum... Cleaner
So today while vacuuming I had a few thoughts... I vacuumed roughly 7k square feet so bear with me.
We as humans all have something we put our 'identity' in. I don't really know how to explain what it means to have your identity in something, but my best explanation is as follows: Your identity is what you find the most joy in, and how you measure success. Example - A child's identity is found in his/her parents. The child is 100% focused on his parents, and their approval or availability. This can be seen when a parent leaves the child with babysitter, or when the child wants to be carried while in a public place. Later on in the teenage years the child becomes way less concerned with the parents, and way more concerned in sports, image, and the opposite sex (no need for explanation or examples here).
Later on in life we lay our identity in careers, families, friends, or even sports teams. This explains the peculiar over-the-top reaction when a college football team loses. Some people literally suffer from short-term sanity loss (for best example see University of Alabama fans).
So you may be asking, what in the world does this have to do with vacuuming. Relax, I'm getting there.
I'm pretty sure I fall in the category of career identity. Prior to working with Young Life, I had a very comfortable job working with a financial software company. I had earned respect from my co-workers and started to take on leadership roles within my department. It was pretty easy to find joy and self-worth in my job.
Now that I'm working with Young Life it has become much less about how important I am to the organization, and more about how I can humbly serve in ways that are less than appealing. This can be a shock to someone who has rooted a lot of their self-worth in career. But today it was awesome.
My thoughts today were more focused on finding my identity in Christ - not career, family, or friends. Christ is a much better place to find identity because guess what, He's not going to fail. He won't fall short like the career identity, or the family identity. Why? Because we were built to live with Christ as the center. Focusing on anything else as the center is like trying to run a gasoline engine with water. It won't run right, and eventually it will break down.
What does identity in Christ look like? Again, not entirely sure. It probably looks like setting your purpose to serve and seek Christ daily, and to bring Him glory. Our only purpose on this planet is to bring God glory (whether in our work, how we love others, or even how we enjoy our favorite activity). Who we are in Christ are children saved by grace. That's a pretty easy place to rest if you ask me. Check out the below verse that might paint the picture a little clearer.
In Matthew 11:30, Jesus shows us what he's about.
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Life would be a lot more enjoyable if our burdens were lighter. Why do we make it so difficult?
Below is a sunset pic I took the other day... Pretty crazy
We as humans all have something we put our 'identity' in. I don't really know how to explain what it means to have your identity in something, but my best explanation is as follows: Your identity is what you find the most joy in, and how you measure success. Example - A child's identity is found in his/her parents. The child is 100% focused on his parents, and their approval or availability. This can be seen when a parent leaves the child with babysitter, or when the child wants to be carried while in a public place. Later on in the teenage years the child becomes way less concerned with the parents, and way more concerned in sports, image, and the opposite sex (no need for explanation or examples here).
Later on in life we lay our identity in careers, families, friends, or even sports teams. This explains the peculiar over-the-top reaction when a college football team loses. Some people literally suffer from short-term sanity loss (for best example see University of Alabama fans).
So you may be asking, what in the world does this have to do with vacuuming. Relax, I'm getting there.
I'm pretty sure I fall in the category of career identity. Prior to working with Young Life, I had a very comfortable job working with a financial software company. I had earned respect from my co-workers and started to take on leadership roles within my department. It was pretty easy to find joy and self-worth in my job.
Now that I'm working with Young Life it has become much less about how important I am to the organization, and more about how I can humbly serve in ways that are less than appealing. This can be a shock to someone who has rooted a lot of their self-worth in career. But today it was awesome.
My thoughts today were more focused on finding my identity in Christ - not career, family, or friends. Christ is a much better place to find identity because guess what, He's not going to fail. He won't fall short like the career identity, or the family identity. Why? Because we were built to live with Christ as the center. Focusing on anything else as the center is like trying to run a gasoline engine with water. It won't run right, and eventually it will break down.
What does identity in Christ look like? Again, not entirely sure. It probably looks like setting your purpose to serve and seek Christ daily, and to bring Him glory. Our only purpose on this planet is to bring God glory (whether in our work, how we love others, or even how we enjoy our favorite activity). Who we are in Christ are children saved by grace. That's a pretty easy place to rest if you ask me. Check out the below verse that might paint the picture a little clearer.
In Matthew 11:30, Jesus shows us what he's about.
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Life would be a lot more enjoyable if our burdens were lighter. Why do we make it so difficult?
Below is a sunset pic I took the other day... Pretty crazy
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Faith of a Trapeze
Churches in Buena Vista don't use air conditioning. This means air doesn't circulate, and Oxygen slowly depletes during the hour or so of the service. Pretty funny to see the drummer falling asleep during the second worship set. Thought I would throw that out there as a random fact...
At church today the pastor quoted a Henri Nouwen book. The excerpt taken was from Henri's experience with a group of trapeze performers. Basically there are two roles in a trapeze act. The 'flyer', who's job is to perform acrobatics while flying to the 'catcher'. The catcher's job is to, well, catch the flyer. Pretty simple.
Henri was amazed at the difficulty of the flyer's role. Henri asked how the flyer perfectly timed maneuvers so that he would successfully be caught. Surprisingly the flyer responded that his job was the easiest. It's that catcher who has to time the catch at split-second precision. All the flyer has to do is let go of the bar and wait to be caught. Everything relies on the catcher.
The pastor then drew the correlation of the flyer to our Christian faith. We as Christians essentially do nothing. Our only job is to 'let go' of whatever it is we are holding on to, and wait for God to catch us. Our faith has nothing to do with performing, it's all on the catcher. We can't do anything to help the catcher other than reach out our arms. Pretty powerful illustration.
There's a pretty solid example of this in Matthew 4. Jesus is just starting his ministry and essentially has zero followers (or enemies for that matter). While walking on the beach He meets two brothers who are fisherman, more than likely multi-generational. In Jesus' first interaction with them He asks the brothers to follow him.
18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” 20 At once they left their nets and followed him.
The astonishing part of this whole deal is their response. They didn't say, "Wait, I've got some baggage to clean up" or "Let me figure out who will run the fishing business that's kept our family afloat for 5 generations." Peter and Andrew dropped their nets 'at once' and followed. They probably didn't even know Jesus was God incarnate! That sort of Faith can only be God inspired, not a rational decision made by the human. That's the kind of faith I pray for...
On another note... The Colorado stars tonight are Re dic u lous.
At church today the pastor quoted a Henri Nouwen book. The excerpt taken was from Henri's experience with a group of trapeze performers. Basically there are two roles in a trapeze act. The 'flyer', who's job is to perform acrobatics while flying to the 'catcher'. The catcher's job is to, well, catch the flyer. Pretty simple.
Henri was amazed at the difficulty of the flyer's role. Henri asked how the flyer perfectly timed maneuvers so that he would successfully be caught. Surprisingly the flyer responded that his job was the easiest. It's that catcher who has to time the catch at split-second precision. All the flyer has to do is let go of the bar and wait to be caught. Everything relies on the catcher.
The pastor then drew the correlation of the flyer to our Christian faith. We as Christians essentially do nothing. Our only job is to 'let go' of whatever it is we are holding on to, and wait for God to catch us. Our faith has nothing to do with performing, it's all on the catcher. We can't do anything to help the catcher other than reach out our arms. Pretty powerful illustration.
There's a pretty solid example of this in Matthew 4. Jesus is just starting his ministry and essentially has zero followers (or enemies for that matter). While walking on the beach He meets two brothers who are fisherman, more than likely multi-generational. In Jesus' first interaction with them He asks the brothers to follow him.
18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” 20 At once they left their nets and followed him.
The astonishing part of this whole deal is their response. They didn't say, "Wait, I've got some baggage to clean up" or "Let me figure out who will run the fishing business that's kept our family afloat for 5 generations." Peter and Andrew dropped their nets 'at once' and followed. They probably didn't even know Jesus was God incarnate! That sort of Faith can only be God inspired, not a rational decision made by the human. That's the kind of faith I pray for...
On another note... The Colorado stars tonight are Re dic u lous.
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