Just do it

There is so much good in the world.

And so much heartbreak.

It's easy to get paralyzed, isn't it? When I think about all ways in which diseases like ALS and cancer devastate lives, all the hurricanes and earthquakes that strike unsuspecting masses, all the wars, all the persecution...it's just overwhelming.

The angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, "The LORD is with you, O valiant warrior." Then Gideon said to him, "O my lord, if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us?"

- Judges 6:12-13a (NASB)

And so yesterday I was reading the Scriptures and came to the account of Gideon. Most of us who grew up going to Sunday school remember Gideon for the fleece that he put out to test whether God was really talking to him. Or maybe for the way God kept trimming his army size until it was only 300 men, so that he would know it was God who gave him the victory.

But this time, I was struck by his first encounter with God, the moment when he realized the Lord wanted him to take action. I had never noticed this before. So a messenger (angel) of God appears from heaven and addresses him in a strange way. For one thing, he calls him a valiant warrior even though Gideon has likely never even been in a fight. But the thing that strikes Gideon in not that; it's that the angel says, "The LORD is with you."

And Gideon thinks, Huh???

He sees no evidence of that at all. Read Judges 6:1-14. God'e people Israel have not been experiencing the Lord's blessings for quite some time. Their land was being taken, their livestock was gone and they were barely surviving. So, in the Hebrew mindset, God could not possibly be with them. He was gone.

The angel tells Gideon, No, he is with you. And Gideon responds like the rest of us: If so, why are all these bad things happening and where are God's miracles we read about in the Scriptures?

So the angel answers all Gideon's questions and lays out a detailed theological treatise of the problem of evil and how God is present in suffering and we just have to.................

Ummmmm, no.

Instead, he just says, GO!

Go, do something about it. Haven't I sent you?
____________

It would be easy for me to sit around and main about all the evil and suffering in the world, in the live of those I love, and even at times in my own life.  Lord, why has this happened to us? Why do you allow your creation to be like this? But as I read this passage, I heard God's answer. The same way he answered Moses, and Gideon, and Isaiah...all the way up to Jesus' final words to his disciples:

Go!

No excuses, just do it.

I don't know why. I don't know how it fits into his plan for creation? I don't know a lot of things.

But I can go. I can do something about it. I can give...I can just be there for someone...I can listen...I can comfort...I can work...I can share the gospel...

I can go. I can be. I can love.

And God says, Just do it.

Bama 2014

It's almost here. Get ready people. The road to 16 commences Saturday afternoon...



Roll Tide!

My piece of the pie

Sometimes it's just so overwhelming.

As I read this week about the persecution going on in Iraq, it makes me want to do something. I want to make it stop. All by myself.

And then I look around at all the needs in the world, and how desperately the earth's 7 billion people need hope. Hope that is found in the gospel of Jesus the Messiah.

Seven. Billion. People.

In this age of 24 hour news, social media, and rapid communication, it's hard to miss how great the need is. Children all over the world in need of basic necessities like food and clothing. War breaking out in Ukraine, Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan with millions of civilians in the crossfire. Disease that's killing thousands and threatening to break out to kill millions. Earthquakes, hurricanes, tornados, tsunamis.

There are so many people hurting...and I sometimes feel so helpless.

So this morning when our teaching pastor compared me to a piece of pie, it was a perspective I needed.

A piece of pie? Yes. The encouragement I got from him was this: God has given me a role in redeeming his creation. But it's just a small part. When I feel like I've got to solve it all, I've got to remember that I'm just one piece of the pie, and I need to surround myself with people who have the other pieces. This is a group project.

Group project. I got a picture of this Thursday when I was helping judge an MBA contest at the University of Alabama. In the morning session, I saw 12 students making speeches, showing their talents for analyzing business problems. They were impressive. But the afternoon session was so much more impressive. The students were placed in groups of four and given a problem to solve, a company that needed to be revitalized. The group dynamic was so much more powerful, and the solutions they came up with were cool.

So why should I be discouraged? God isn't asking me to solve the world's problems all by myself. He has been working to redeem the world with a plan that has been growing for over 4,000 years, starting with Abraham, culminating in the work of Jesus during his time on earth, and continuing in the hands of his people, the church. I am a small part of that plan, a small piece of the pie.

Small, yes. But definitely a piece.

So what should I do? I believe God asks me to be content in the role he has given me, and go about it with determination and much prayer. I don't need to be wishing I could be somewhere else doing something else. If I do, I will pine away my life and miss the chance to do his kingdom work right where he has me. There is so much to be done!

So, instead of focusing on what I can't do, I will focus on what I can:

• Go to work each and look for ways to show God's love to those at my company. I can do quality work that glorifies the Creator of work, demonstrate servant leadership to my team, and love those around me even when we don't agree on things.
• Love my family with all my heart, letting them see the light of Jesus by considering their needs above my own.
• Love my friends - fellow believers - by spending time with them and building community that reflects the prayer of Jesus in John 17.
• Love strangers, and even those who oppose me. Show them extraordinary kindness. Who does this?? Well, nobody wants to. And so when I do, people can see that the gospel does make a difference in how we live.
• Find a pocket of need and pour my life into others. This is where I have to avoid getting overwhelmed - I can't reach out to and/or visit every widow and orphan in the world or help lift up all the oppressed. But that's no excuse not to reach out to any. For me, at this point in my life, it's the children of Korah in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia as well as keeping my eye out for local opportunities.
• Pray, pray, pray. This is how we can be involved where we can't reach. We have a big God.
• Share the resources that God has entrusted to me. He has done so not for my pleasure, but for his glory.

Tackling this list is  quite a challenge. But with God's help, it's something I can do. 

So thanks, Patrick, for reminding me. Instead of being frustrated about the things I want to do for God but can't, I need to do well those things God has placed right in front of me. 

Time to get to it.

Time out

Sometimes you just have to call a time out.

Today, August 15, is a regular time out for me. Today I step away from work and from my everyday personal life. I will spend some time alone, and it will help me refocus on what's really important.

As many of you know, today is my late sister Kim's birthday, and 18 years ago today there was a terrible accident that claimed her life. Because of that, I have chosen today as a personal memorial day for all those I love who have gone ahead of me. But you know what? I have written about these things before, and I think the best way to share my heart is to point to these previous posts. So here are links:

Today I remember (a tribute to my sister)

An annual reminder (an explanation of why I take this day)

No more night (A reminder that death is not the end)

If you have the time, I ask humbly that you click on these links and do a little reading. If you do, I pray that you catch a spirit not of sadness, but of rejoicing in the memory of great lives and the hope that we have in Jesus.

Remember those that you miss. Remember the love. Remember the joy. And thank God for their time with you.

God bless.....