Life is a tightrope

Today's post was written by my beautiful wife.

 A few days ago a tightrope walker named Nik Wallenda made it into the record books by accomplishing an amazing feat--he walked across an area of the Grand Canyon on a skywire! No one has ever had the nerve to do it and I venture to say--no one again ever will. I asked myself why he would do such a thing. Why put himself in such imminent danger? Why take the chance on leaving his wife and children without  a husband and father. In one word I would call it--PURPOSE. I believe Nik Wallenda was born to walk that tightrope. If you listen to his story, you know he comes from seven generations of tightrope walkers and performers. He first stepped on a tightrope at the age of two. Even  scientific tests have shown that Nik has a better control of balance than 99% of the population. This was his destiny. Nik Wallenda mentioned that he'd never do anything dangerous. HUH?? Well for him, walking a tightrope is just another day at work. Even so, did he face the canyon called Hell Hole Bend" with scorn? No he studied it with reverence and awe. Looking forward to the view no one else would have the nerve to see. Nik is a Christian so with this reverence, skill and purpose he didn't forget the most important thing--God. God who made, Nik, the canyon and the winds that moved in updrafts from its bottom. Nik stepped onto that wire with faith and confidence of god--all the while with each step acknowledging his Savior Jesus. He praised Jesus and thanked him for the opportunity to be in that very place--1500 feet above the canyon on a 2 inch wide wire. Wow. He knew God was with hime and thanked him continuously. Now--there were times during that 22 minute walk along that wire that he became nervous and maybe very afraid. He would pause and kneel down on the wire when the vibrations cause by the wind and his own movement caused instability. Shortly after he would rise again and continue his walk until triumphantly making to the the other side! I was so inspired by him that evening. It made me think of my own life. What if I could approach my day--my life the same way. Knowing who I was created to be in Christ and embracing it. Understanding and using my gifts for God's Glory. Realizing that though winds may come and my own efforts might prove fruitless--Matthew 19:26 says,"Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Nik knew that without God he might have been splattered all over the floor of that canyon or maybe never would have had the courage to be there in the first place. The beauty is that he make his work as a tightrope walker a sacrifice to the Savior Jesus and as a result God ordered each one of his steps and received Glory while the whole world watched. What if we approached our jobs and our daily missions with the same faith and trust in God. God can and will use you and I if we allow him to. It will always be for your good and his Glory.

"I can do all this through him who gives me strength." Phil 4:13

It's okay to stop rushing

This morning started like most mornings do. I wake up, then spend a moment meditating trying to understand what God is trying to get me to pay attention to. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you." Matthew 6:33, we've read it hundreds of times before. But this time, I dug into it a little deeper.

Basically, what the verse is saying is - when you have an issue, when you have a problem, when life happens... you should look at the kingdom of God to understand how you should respond.

That's a difficult thing. Work is fast paced. Life is fast paced. It's far easier to just act based upon instinct or our best guess at the time, but God is asking us to consider Him first.

Anyway, as I was running out the door to get to the emergency of the day, my wife asked me to pray before I left. My first answer was, "I'm running late... I have to go!" But ended up coming back to take a moment in prayer.

I get it. Seek the kingdom of God first. Understand that there is a difference between our vocation and our job.

In the end, today went remarkably smooth, all things considered.

God gets the praise.

Let's learn to take a moment and slow things down to understand how our actions reflect on the kingdom of God and get our marching orders on how we should approach our day.

Take time out for what's important...

Life gets so busy at times. It seems like from the moment my eyes open until the slam shut at night from sheer exhaustion it seems like I am running, doing, like something is always pressing... it all needs to be done. NOW!

The demands of work, family, trying to carve time out for yourself, and for your friends seems like a never ending battle, and the easiest thing to carve out of our schedule it time with God.

But... is that true?

I know, when I take a look at my life, there are times when I absolutely can have quality time with God. I just have to be deliberate about it.

Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary.Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:38-42, ESV)

 In this passage, we see two sisters, Mary and Martha. One is taking time out from the mundane and is sitting at Jesus' feet listening to him teach. She has chosen to spend quality time in the presence of God.

The other, is caught up in the fact that they have visitors, she is so wrapped up in what she thinks needs to be done, that she treated to presence of God casually. Serving in a way that was suitable in her mind caused her to miss serving the way that Jesus would have wished that she had.

"You are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary."

Let us struggle to keep that in mind today. Let us choose the good portion, of taking time to be in the presence of God. Almost everything else can wait... for at least a little while.

Are you a light in a world of darkness?

One late night, I went to the bathroom. Not wanting to disturb my wife, who was sleeping, I didn't turn on any lights. It's our house, surely I could make my way in the dark, right? 

Getting to the bathroom was easy, when I left, I knocked over the trash container that she bought. I kicked the scale. I stubbed my toe on the edge of the bed frame. As convinced as I was that I could do this routine that I honestly believed I could do with my eyes closed... I always end up stumbling.

It would be easy to say that if everything were neatly in its place, this wouldn't happen... but that's not the way life works. Life is rarely neat.

I eventually purchased a little flashlight. When I shine this light, darkness has to get out of the way. Light trumps darkness every single time.

"Again Jesus spoke to them saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." John 8:12

 "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden." Matt 5:14

The question of the day is... are you a light? Do your actions cause people to find their way so they don't stumble?

Let us struggle to be light.

How do you see the world?

How you see the world impacts how you react to it. I know people who are afraid of people that they don't know. As a result, they don't talk to other people, they avoid them at all cost. I know other people who don't want to feel different, so they morph themselves into the same time of behavior as those around them. I know people who are "rugged individualists" who want people to know that they are different, and don't really care what anyone else things about them.

As Christians, we should view the world in one way... they way that Jesus viewed the world.

After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. And he said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." Luke 10:1-2

Jesus viewed the world a a place where there are a lot of people that need to hear about who Jesus is before He can show Himself to them. He wants us to pray that God sends people to do this work.

Sometimes we view the world such that we expect others to do the "harvesting", but in reality, the call is for all of us to make disciples.

And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." Matt:28:18-20

We know that Jesus was not just talking to just His 11 disciples, if that were true, no new disciples would have been made. The calling of a disciple, or follower of Jesus is to make disciples!

Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in pison - that I make it clear, which is how I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. Col 4:2-6

Take a moment and mediate on what God is saying in Colossians 4 - "Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person." - It sounds like the expectation is that we live our lives in such a way that people will want to know what the difference is, and we should be ready to tell them the gospel!

This week, let us struggle to take a look at the world through the same lens that Jesus did - a lens that clearly shows us that the world is in need of a Savior, with whom we have an intimate relationship.