All in Faith
Well here we are, a few days removed from the election, and no clear-cut winner. Personally, this comes as no surprise – something about 2020 just feels like this is right on par for everything else that’s happened this year.
But as I look around, I notice an interesting phenomenon: I see more people than ever before, genuinely fearful about what will happen if the other side wins.
This weekend, I attended a funeral service for a child who never got the chance to take her first breath. She was near full-term, but never got the chance to meet her parents or her grandparents. She will never get to see a sunrise, experience laughter, or have her feet tickled while she giggles.
Now, I know a common question is: Why would God allow something like this to happen?
Alright, it’s time for a thought exercise. I want you to play along for a few minutes, if for no other reason than to humor me. If this weren’t in written form, I would ask you to close your eyes and visualize what I’m about to describe. But alas, we’ll give a little grace if you refuse to close your eyes for this one…
Ready?
Here goes:
Imagine you’re standing on an overlook, staring across a vast desert valley. In the distance, rugged mountains cradle the valley with strong and dry arms.
As you look at the valley floor, you see it covered with desert chaparral – dry, brittle brush that thirsts for heaven’s rain. Swaths of the desert floor are bare, showing the evidence of rivers that once flowed many ages ago.
Can you see it?
Can you smell it?
Can you feel the warm breeze press against your face?
Two years ago, almost to the day, my wife and I had the privilege of visiting the isle of Iona in Scotland. What stood out to us, other than the incredible beauty of this small island, was a small abbey perched along the southeastern shore.
This abbey was built by St. Columba sometime after he landed on the island in 563 AD after fleeing persecution in his home country of Ireland.
In front of the abbey stands St. Martin’s cross, built around 800 AD.
I have to admit when I heard the news, I was a bit shocked.
I was sitting in church. Our pastor had mentioned a fascinating interview he had heard with an Israeli political figure who was quoted as saying America’s biggest threat to Israel was its ignorance when it came to knowledge of the Bible. He went on to explain why, but the text message that came in completely distracted me…
“Kobe is dead.”
A few months ago, I attended a funeral celebrating the life of my aunt who died way too soon. Cancer took her life, leaving my uncle devastated in its wake.
Earlier this week, I attended a funeral celebrating the life of a friend who died way too soon. Aggressive brain cancer took her life, leaving her husband and children feeling the depths of her absence.
25 years ago, I attended a funeral celebrating the life of my best friend who died way too soon. Congenital heart disease took his life overnight, leaving friends and family confused and disoriented.
You could fill in your own stories of experiencing loss, of dealing with the death of a loved one, of mourning someone who left the land of the living earlier than expected.
There is something inside each and every one of us that knows, deep inside, that this isn’t the way things ought to be.
While driving through town the other day, I came across this sign: “GOD SAW YOU DO THAT”
Ah, Christians can be so interesting sometimes, can’t they?
God saw you do that.
It’s a proclamation of judgement, something that says you better watch your back, isn’t it?
I’ve found I have two gods: Comfort and Productivity.
Comfort often takes the form of fun and pleasure, while Productivity is often masked as efficiency.
A few days ago, those gods were exposed in a single, painful act: while playing basketball with some friends, I felt something hit the back of my leg, just below the calf. Simultaneously, a loud sound, similar to that of a softball hitting a wooden wall, emitted from the same spot on my leg.
In mid-crumpling action, I glanced behind me to see what hit me, and when I realized nobody and nothing, was there, I immediately knew: the Achilles tendon had just ruptured.
Do you feel stuck in an impossible situation? Does it seem like God has left you high and dry? Hang in there - things may feel out of control, but hope is available, even if it seems hard to see from where you are…
“You shall have no other Gods before me.”
When I hear this first commandment, something in me is stirred; a stirring that speaks of something magnificent and weighty in its simplicity.
Something that says that if we could get that first commandment right, we might not need the other nine.
