No search for a new vehicle would be complete without it. There is just something about it that draws us in. The quest for the perfect car, the right fit. You have to drive it so you know when it feels right. We press on through all obstacles in search of the perfect opportunity; where everything meets up in the best possible way. I have had my fair share of test drives recently, and with them my fair share of adventures and stories. I encountered plenty of interesting people on this journey, but the following story takes the cake. This story only further proves my life could be the subject for a sitcom. Anyone interested in either purchasing the rights to my life stories, or partnering with me in writing this show, contact me. Here is the story:
After work one evening I drove to the other side of town to a dealership in order to look at vehicle. I had studied up on the vehicle for a few days, and after finding one for a decent price in the category I was interested in, I headed south to what would hopefully be the car of my dreams. The place was an absolute zoo. I guess it was go look at a car day, which besides being the worst name for a holiday ever, was just my luck. There was not a salesman or representative to spare to show me around or get me into the car I came to see. So I decided to scout out the lot myself. After wandering around for 15 minutes, I had not found the car I came looking for and was just about to leave, when I heard an "Excuse me Sir!" call out behind me. I turned to see an older gentleman heading my way. His tussled grey hair and disorganized stack of papers told me right away he would be no help, but I knew I would never find car without help, so I took the bait. After introducing himself as Mark I informed the man of the make, model, color, mileage, VIN and stock numbers, and every know relative of the car I was looking for and waited for him to introduce us. After several minutes or rummaging and murmuring through his paper work it is determined that the vehicle I came to see is not on the lot, but in fact on a different lot. Mark went inside to check and make sure the other lot had the car, and after 20 more minutes of waiting alone outside, I decided I would go check out the other lot by myself. Thanks to my smart phone I found the lot just around the corner. When questioned why I was there (obviously they had visitors often...) I told them I came from the other lot and they put two and two together. They told me I was free to look at the car, but the keys were missing which meant one thing: more waiting. After they found the keys they turned on the car, but I was told I had to wait some more until Mark the "salesman" from the first lot made his way over. So me and the running car waited patiently in the heat of the evening. When Mark finally arrived, we were off. As I started to ask Mark questions about the car he was unable to answer, I decided to steer the conversation toward a subject he would know: himself. At the very least it would avoid awkward silences. He had already proven to be an interesting character, so the conversation had a lot of promise. Plus I told Mark I really just wanted to see how the car drove. We had only gone two blocks, when I noticed that the gas light was on with full force, signalling to me that the drive should soon come to an end. But not to Mark. He instructed me to turn onto the highway and "open her up." So I did. About 1.5 miles later, and almost immediately after Mark said "I probably should have brought the gas card..." the car started chugging and promptly ran out of gas. As Mark tried to find the number to call the dealership, I pushed the car to the side of the road and figured out our location. When Mark finally got a hold of someone to let them know we ran out of gas and were stuck on the side of the road I realized a few things: 1) This had not turned out how I planned 2) I did not want this car 3) the only option now was to wait (again) and 4) might as well keep talking to Mark. So Mark and I continued our conversation and I found out everything there was to know about him. We exchanged thoughts on life perspectives and why things happen, and before long (45 minutes) we received just enough gas to make it back to the car lot.
What started out as the perfect opportunity to get a good reliable car, turned into something else entirely. I don't really remember what I said that afternoon, but Mark called me the following day, not about the car, but to thank me for the conversation we had. Apparently it was the perfect opportunity, just not in the way I originally thought. This reminds me of a similar story.
In the sixteenth chapter of the book of Acts we see Paul and Silas out doing their thing: preaching the gospel and takin' names. They went to Philippi and met a woman who instantly responded to the gospel. It would seem that this place was the perfect opportunity to live out what God was calling them to. It so happened that also while they were there they ran across a slave-girl possessed by a demon. Apparently this girl followed them around for a couple of days and became rather annoying. Having had enough of demon girl, Paul exercises the demon in the name of Jesus and prepared to go back to business as usual. But wouldn't you know it, the owner of the slave was not very happy about all of that and had Paul and Silas thrown in prison. How do they respond? They just start singing and praying. Now the passage doesn't say this, but I imagine (based on a story in chapter 12 about Peter) that both the jailbirds and the Christians in the town were praying for their safe and quick release. I mean they had come to the town to preach the gospel after all. In the middle of the night the un-explainable happened. There was a massive earthquake that broke open all the cells and released all the restraints. Hallelujah! An answer to prayer! Here was the opportunity of a life time! They could run for the hills and escape their imprisonment! And everyone did...except Paul and Silas. The perfect opportunity arises, what anyone would have wanted, but they don't leave--they stay. God had other plans. God used the moment to introduce Jesus to the jailer and his family. So in fact it was the perfect opportunity, and was even in line with the spread-the-gospel plan, it just looked different than anyone expected.
I wonder how many times I miss the opportunities God places in front of me because I am too busy looking for them. Its hard to accept that my idea of the perfect opportunity and God's idea may not the same. Maybe it takes an earthquake or running out of gas with a stranger to make us realize it. The next time you are in the middle of the "perfect opportunity" stop and ask God if it really is. You might just stumble into something better
Monday, September 17, 2012
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Trash Collectors & Firefighters
It has come to my attention that my role as youth minister takes on many forms. Some of these forms are glamorous and some are not. Some forms are fun and others not so much. Still other forms come easily to me and some others I have to work on. But this is not a post about what it looks like to be a youth minister or pastor. This is a reflection on what two of those roles say about Christian culture. The two roles are trash collector and firefighter.
The first role of trash collector, more commonly referred to as garbageman, is exactly what you think it is: one who collects or picks up or takes care of trash. As a nation we produce over 250 million tons of garbage (solid waste) each year. Don't worry I haven't been talking to Al Gore, this isn't a save the environment type of post. Just by examining the world for a week, you would probably agree that we throw a lot of stuff away. When something breaks, or gets old, or whatever we throw it out and get a new one. After awhile all that trash starts to pile up. Before long it will start to smell, and we expect someone to take care of it. And someone does, well at least for all our physical trash. But working in ministry, and even before that, I have noticed that people carry around a lot of junk. Broken relationships, disappointment, anxiety, fears, just a lot of hurt. Going through life we pick stuff up, some good, but a lot of bad. I find that most of the time we don't know what to do with all the hurt. There isn't a white bag to put it in, and guys in trucks don't come to take it away. So we carry it, and it piles up, and it starts to smell, until we can't take it anymore, until we are crushed by the weight. So I find that I play the role of garbageman, helping people get rid of the inner-garbage in their lives. I have talked to plenty of people who carry around lots of pain, you wonder how they even walk around. I can't really get rid of the junk, but I can help direct people to the cross where all that trash is abolished by the power of Jesus.
The other role is fireman. Now I realize fireman is not politically correct, but I don't really care. Not really sure how many fires take place across america, or the world, each year but I'm gonna guess that it's a lot. Fires are serious business. Over four thousand people die in house fires every year. Fires may start out small but they spread and grow quickly, often in unpredictable ways. So we send in brave men and women to rescue people from danger and stop the danger from hurting others. But a lot of times there are other fires in our lives that don't get put out. I'm sure I don't have to tell you, but when you work or interact with people there is bound to be friction at some point. Disagreements, differing opinions, misunderstandings, what have you they all create friction. According to Bear Grylls you can use friction to create fire, and friction surely creates fires in relationships with people. Like real fires, if they don't get put out, they will destroy relationships, or at the very least leave them severely hurt and/or disfigured. When unchecked people's anger can grow out of control and people get hurt, bridges get burned. So I play the role of firefighter, putting out fires before people hurt others, or themselves.
I hope one day we can live without these metaphorical garbage men and firefighters. I think these roles reflect some things about how we live our lives as Christians. I believe they are enabling us to live less than we were created for. Lets think about why we need garbage collectors. Obviously we have garbage that needs to be taken care of. But why do we have garbage? We go through life picking up or buying stuff we don't really need with little thought to who will take care of it when we throw it out. Or we just throw things out that could still be of use. We just consume for the sake of it. For whatever reason we are dissatisfied with what we have, and try to replace it with something we will just end up throwing out as well. This attitude transfers directly into our Christian walk. We all get involved with things we shouldn't or pick up habits that are less than beneficial with little thought to the filth it creates in our lives, let alone what to do with it when we finally realize the burden or smell. The problem isn't with what we have, but with us. And what about fires? Granted not every fire is caused by man in the same way garbage is, but a lot are. And when they are, the cause is underestimating or neglecting the danger or power fire has. Is it any different in our relationships? Underestimating or neglecting feelings or people's anger causes things to escalate out of control.
Really it is just a selfish way to live. Doing whatever we want just counting on someone else to take care of the mess, or rescue us if things get out of control. It's selfish and does more damage than good. Both trash collectors and firefighters allow us to just react to problems instead of being proactive and stop them from even happening. What if we took a look at what we had before we start looking for meaning or fulfillment in more things or other places. What if we took more responsibility for how we live and interact with others? What would it look like to take on a recycle type mindset in our christian walk? Maybe I'm on to something, or maybe this is just another musing of a modern-day sasquatch.
The first role of trash collector, more commonly referred to as garbageman, is exactly what you think it is: one who collects or picks up or takes care of trash. As a nation we produce over 250 million tons of garbage (solid waste) each year. Don't worry I haven't been talking to Al Gore, this isn't a save the environment type of post. Just by examining the world for a week, you would probably agree that we throw a lot of stuff away. When something breaks, or gets old, or whatever we throw it out and get a new one. After awhile all that trash starts to pile up. Before long it will start to smell, and we expect someone to take care of it. And someone does, well at least for all our physical trash. But working in ministry, and even before that, I have noticed that people carry around a lot of junk. Broken relationships, disappointment, anxiety, fears, just a lot of hurt. Going through life we pick stuff up, some good, but a lot of bad. I find that most of the time we don't know what to do with all the hurt. There isn't a white bag to put it in, and guys in trucks don't come to take it away. So we carry it, and it piles up, and it starts to smell, until we can't take it anymore, until we are crushed by the weight. So I find that I play the role of garbageman, helping people get rid of the inner-garbage in their lives. I have talked to plenty of people who carry around lots of pain, you wonder how they even walk around. I can't really get rid of the junk, but I can help direct people to the cross where all that trash is abolished by the power of Jesus.
The other role is fireman. Now I realize fireman is not politically correct, but I don't really care. Not really sure how many fires take place across america, or the world, each year but I'm gonna guess that it's a lot. Fires are serious business. Over four thousand people die in house fires every year. Fires may start out small but they spread and grow quickly, often in unpredictable ways. So we send in brave men and women to rescue people from danger and stop the danger from hurting others. But a lot of times there are other fires in our lives that don't get put out. I'm sure I don't have to tell you, but when you work or interact with people there is bound to be friction at some point. Disagreements, differing opinions, misunderstandings, what have you they all create friction. According to Bear Grylls you can use friction to create fire, and friction surely creates fires in relationships with people. Like real fires, if they don't get put out, they will destroy relationships, or at the very least leave them severely hurt and/or disfigured. When unchecked people's anger can grow out of control and people get hurt, bridges get burned. So I play the role of firefighter, putting out fires before people hurt others, or themselves.
I hope one day we can live without these metaphorical garbage men and firefighters. I think these roles reflect some things about how we live our lives as Christians. I believe they are enabling us to live less than we were created for. Lets think about why we need garbage collectors. Obviously we have garbage that needs to be taken care of. But why do we have garbage? We go through life picking up or buying stuff we don't really need with little thought to who will take care of it when we throw it out. Or we just throw things out that could still be of use. We just consume for the sake of it. For whatever reason we are dissatisfied with what we have, and try to replace it with something we will just end up throwing out as well. This attitude transfers directly into our Christian walk. We all get involved with things we shouldn't or pick up habits that are less than beneficial with little thought to the filth it creates in our lives, let alone what to do with it when we finally realize the burden or smell. The problem isn't with what we have, but with us. And what about fires? Granted not every fire is caused by man in the same way garbage is, but a lot are. And when they are, the cause is underestimating or neglecting the danger or power fire has. Is it any different in our relationships? Underestimating or neglecting feelings or people's anger causes things to escalate out of control.
Really it is just a selfish way to live. Doing whatever we want just counting on someone else to take care of the mess, or rescue us if things get out of control. It's selfish and does more damage than good. Both trash collectors and firefighters allow us to just react to problems instead of being proactive and stop them from even happening. What if we took a look at what we had before we start looking for meaning or fulfillment in more things or other places. What if we took more responsibility for how we live and interact with others? What would it look like to take on a recycle type mindset in our christian walk? Maybe I'm on to something, or maybe this is just another musing of a modern-day sasquatch.
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