Carried Along

A blog about real life through the lens of Christ

recent posts

  • Love my neighbor? I Can Barely Put One Foot in Front of the Other

    I sent a text the other day to one of my friends.  With the shut down of school (and society for a while) I have lost touch with so many of my friends, especially those associated with my work or my kids’ school.  I asked her how she was intending to see how she was dealing with all of the #COVID-related issues, but the response I got was nothing of the sort.  Two of her family members living in Africa had just passed away for unmentioned reasons.  In addition, she had lost a total of 8 family members there so far this year, 4 in a car accident.  As I was processing this information, I realized how selfish I’ve become in the last few months. 

    I have been so bothered by the disruptions to my life in the last few months that I have forgotten, forgotten that life is going on and others are suffering.  Yes, some are suffering from COVID, injustice, fear of the rise in violence in our country, but they are also suffering personally from circumstances, loneliness and anxiety, many from a source they can’t identify.  Just because I can’t do what I’m used to like teaching, traveling, planning-well- anything at all, doesn’t mean I can forget the basics.  The question the Pharisees asked Jesus in Matthew is the same questions we all have right now. Mainly, “God, what do you want me to do now?  Now that my world has been turned upside down?”  The answer he gave them is the same answer he gives us now.  The greatest commandment is still “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind . . . You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22: 37-39). 

    Both of these commandment are “other” focused.  Neither one asks me to look at myself, only upward and outward.  And I’ve been so focused on myself and my desire to return to “normal life”-which I may never see again-that I have failed.  Failed to realize that God is not in shock and dismay as I am.  In fact, not only is he perfectly aware of everything that is happening, but his plan has never changed once.  Despite the discomfort I feel, his passion towards drawing people to himself is the same.  And just because I am self-centered doesn’t mean there aren’t those who need my help or friendship even more during this time.

    During the last election, my friend posted a meme that stated, “Turn off your TV and love your neighbor.”  I do not watch the news much, I am definitely more focused on the chaos around me that the one who hold my future in my hand.  Praying I can “turn it off” whether physically or emotionally and remember that not only does God’s perfect plan prevail, but he wants me to be a part of it. 

  • When Step by Step is All We Have

    I love school, in any form. The smell of pencils, crayons, new books, all of it gives me a strange feeling of excitement. In fact, I have never missed a fall in school, not one. My boys have bought into my excitement, and are ready to go back now-especially after spending 6 months at home. But, I have to admit, this fall has a different sentiment, an added feeling of unpredictability I’ve never experienced before. Sure, there are plans, but they are all tentative. I am hopeful we will go back, but there are so many unknowns.

    How will it work? Masks, schedules, lunches, sports-the questions are endless, and unanswerable at this time. Never has there been so much uncertainty. This got me thinking of the song “Step by Step” by Rich Mullins, one of my favorites. Sure, we Christians say that we “follow” Christ. Sure, we know the passage in James that says, “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit’—  yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.  Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’” We even say these words to each other at times, but we have rarely had to actually apply it to our lives.

    We love schedules. They give us stability, help us keep our kids busy, make us look like good parents, and, let’s face it, help us keep our sanity. Knowing what is next is what we all want, as much as possible. Until this year. This year the rug has been pulled out from under us, and will continue to be. Activities, plans, and vacations have all been cancelled, and continue to be. Who knows what the next few months will bring. And it’s uncomfortable, unnerving. I don’t know what to tell my kids or myself. Never had I felt closer to some other of Rich’s lyrics that say, “So if I stand let me stand on the promise/That you will pull me through/And if I can’t, let me fall on the grace/That first brought me to You” (If I Stand).

    But what if this time of unending uncertainty is not a curse but an opportunity, an opportunity to actually live what we say and rely daily, even hourly on Christ. And follow him instead of our plans. To actually get up each morning and seek him for the day’s activities because, for once, our lives are not already filled up with our own plans. Maybe we can actually deny our plans and pick up our cross and follow him because we actually have time to hear our shepherd’s voice (John 10:27) telling us to take a walk, make a visit, write a note, or have someone over for dinner because our calendars aren’t full for once. So many possibilities! Lord, give us eyes to see opportunity instead of inconvenience, the true work you have for us during these strange times.

  • When Helping Actually Hurts

    When I was 22 years old, I taught high school English. Among my students that year was a 16 year old mother of a 1 year old girl. It was well known that her home-life was rough as well, especially in regards to her own abusive mother. While I don’t remember her name, I do remember chatting with her one day while she was trying to catch up on some missing work and realizing-in a limited way-how little I understood of what her life was like, how little I felt like I had to offer her. Generational poverty, teen parenthood, a sordid home-life, none of these had ever been a part of my fairly rosy life so far.

    Year after year, I continued to encounter these students, counting on me to educate them, to give them what they need to step into adulthood, who were facing seemingly insurmountable obstacles along the way. My heart broke every time as I realized over and over how unfair life is, how much harder some people have to work to be successful. I taught them, but I truly felt like my efforts were often in vain. They were dealing with problems I could not help with.

    Years later, after working in a treatment center, I began teaching special education. One year, a particular teacher gave all of my special education students A’s instead of individual accommodations. I remember that one of my students was working hard on a research paper when he came into my room to inform me that she had given him an A on a paper he hadn’t yet completed. In her mind, since his academic skills were lower than the other kids, the “kind” thing to do was “gift” him this A. He was truly dejected and angry. He had put all of this work into this paper, and she wasn’t even going to look at it. Her “gift” also sent the message that he “couldn’t” do what other kids his age could do.

    That incident, along with many others slowly began to change my thinking. We were created to work hard and make our own way. My students, even those with the most challenges, do not want free grades, they want to learn and grow. They want to be able to do “it”, whatever “it” is so that when the time comes for them to do the job, take the test, write the paper, they can do it on their own. I began pushing my students, all of them, but especially my special education students. I taught them to write the essays, cite quotes, understand the vocabulary, and read what the other students were reading. The transformation was uncanny, and I will never forget when one of my students said, “I am so glad to taught me how to write. Today I had to write an essay in history, and I knew exactly how to do it.”

    And I began to gain confidence, not confidence that I KNEW what it was like to deal with racism, poverty, abuse, and disabilities of every kind, but confidence that just as many great coaches push their athletes to achieve success, I must push my students to achieve more on their own because, in the end, life is and never has been fair. And while I do everything in my power daily to make my classroom and school as safe and accessible to EVERY student, the world they are soon to enter will require that some of them work harder than others to be successful.

    Just like parents who make excuses for their children are disabling rather than helping their children, I, as a teacher, am disabling a student I don’t push to do the most he/she can do on their own. Because while I, personally, am responsible for treating others fairly and equally, the idea that life should be completely fair, as much as I want it to be, is a fairy tale, and teaching people to see themselves as victims of impossible circumstances does not help them succeed.

    Disclaimer: It is important to note that some people feel called to engage in politics on a larger scale. In addition, there are times for “peaceful” protests to emphasize injustice, which all of us must stand against as it comes our way. But, the current trend of telling people that all police, rich, or people of a certain race are evil and full of hatred is NOT a helpful message. This is not only hurting society as a whole but is hurting the people those spreading this message are “claiming” to help. The phrase “Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime” is true. In the end, victims NEVER win. The best way to help people is to empower them to do all they can do, responsibly, on their own. This may not be popular, but the confidence they build can carry them places nothing else can.

  • #Living Water in Desert Times

    When I was 18 years-old, I signed up to work with a group in Yellowstone National Park.  We were to work in various areas of the park in various jobs, either housekeeping or food service, and offer Bible studies.  It just so happened that I was assigned to work at Yellowstone Lake.  Having grown up in Montana, I was accustomed to the beauty of the mountains, but living at the lake that summer was such a serene and awe-inspiring experience.  In addition to the hiking almost daily, I spent time every day sitting by this vast body of water, surrounded by mountains, journaling and praying.  Now, more than 25 years later, my family and I visit the lake at least twice a year.  Our kids grew up throwing rocks into the Yellowstone River and tracking its location all over the state, so they appreciate the reach this mountain lake has, feeding such an influential river, hundreds of miles from its source.

    This past weekend, on a short visit there, my son asked me if Yellowstone Lake could ever dry up.  As we looked at the surrounding mountains with visible snow on them, even in the last days of June, my husband and I chuckled and responded that the likelihood was very low that it would ever run dry as some lakes have done, and I was reminded in this place of such beauty that, despite the chaos our world seems to be in, God’s mercy and providence are like this lake, both reliable and life-giving, not unpredictable like this ever-changing world full of unknown viruses, unrest, and well, sin in general. Like this lake, He is pure, calm and steady, not swayed by the craziness of the world below. 

    Water is such a precious commodity these days.  We are constantly told to conserve and protect it.  While we consider water a modern problem due to population growth and changes in the weather patterns, the Bible is also filled with scenarios and metaphors concerning water.  It makes sense-where there is water, there is life.  Where there is not water . . . While there are many verses about God providing water miraculously such as:

    “Because I have given waters in the wilderness

    And rivers in the desert,

    To give drink to My chosen people” (Isaiah 43:20)

    And “You shall not see wind nor shall you see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, so that you shall drink, both you and your cattle and your beasts” (2 Kings 3:17).

    Water is also a symbol of God’s salvation and spiritual provision for believers.  When Jesus speaks at the Feast of the Tabernacles, he says, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them” (John 7:37-38).  To the woman at the well, he offers “living water” (John 4:10). 

    I won’t lie. Right now, I wish I could hide out at Yellowstone Lake, gazing at it’s massive and pure waters, forgetting about an uncertain year ahead, but many in our world are not feeling serene right now. They are struggling with fear, anxiety, and let’s face it, anger.  Lord, help me to remember and speak of God’s sovereignty and provision in these times, bountiful and life-giving, unaffected by the chaos around us.  Help me take comfort in you alone, for it is you who can “(change) a wilderness into a pool of water and a dry land into springs of water” (Psalm 107:35). 

  • Rethinking Depression

    Depression.  It seems we can’t go anywhere, watch TV, read the news without hearing about it. There are endless commercials for anti-depressants and medications to take in addition to anti-depressants if we still feel down. Additionally, there are countless hotlines and programs to prevent suicide.  Therapy is an ever-growing field, and now, we can even use an app to get therapy on the go. According to the CDC, one out of six adults struglle with depression in our nation each year. Enter 2020.  The fear of COVID-19, shutdowns, job loss, police shootings, and violent riots-as if life wasn’t stressful enough.   As a public school teacher, I encounter students each year whose anxiety and/or depression make everyday tasks difficult. But, as we all know, while it is prevalent in society, it is also prevalent in the body of Christ.  Some people may ask why Christians deal with depression when they should be at peace, relying on the Lord for their joy.  As a Christian and someone who has dealt with depression for at least 25 years, I have learned that instead of asking “why”, maybe we should rethink depression in the Christian life.  While it is in no way wrong to seek professional help for this and other mental health disorders, maybe we are missing something.  Maybe depression isn’t only an ill that we must fear and cure immediately, but a part of some of our fallen personalities that God can use in mysterious and beautiful ways.  I try to always consider the following when I encounter depression in my own life:

    1. Our relationship with God and others are a factor.  Recently, I stumbled upon a replay of a sermon by Ravi Zacharias which addressed how modern societies wish to rid mankind of all negative thoughts and emotions.  In this sermon he spoke of a new drug, invented but not yet approved, that could erase memories.  The target for this drug is murderers, molesters, the worst of the worst criminals.  With this drug, they could live happy, guilt-free lives.  While this example is extreme, it is important to note in dealing with depression.  Society wants us to believe that we should rid our lives of all negative emotion, but it is imperative to not that some of us deal with depression as a result of sin.  In Psalm 51, David cries out in repentance:

    “Have mercy upon me, O God,
    According to Your lovingkindness;
    According to the multitude of Your tender mercies,
    Blot out my transgressions.
    2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
    And cleanse me from my sin.

    3 For I acknowledge my transgressions,
    And my sin is always before me.
    4 Against You, You only, have I sinned . . . “ (Psalm 51:1-4).

    The first question we need to ask ourselves in dealing with depression is “Do I need to confess and ask for forgiveness?  Is sin causing some of my negative emotions? Am I refusing to forgive others for the wrong they have committed?”  As in Romans 7 and in many of the Psalms, depression which is linked to personal sin, cannot be cured by a medication but only through repentance and reconciliation. 

    • We are in good company.  King David, the apostle Paul, Job, Martin Luther, and many great writers, inventors and artists have struggled with depression.  I have many dear family members, including myself, who deal with depression.  Is it odd that so many of the Psalms tell us “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18) and “Even though I walk through the valley of death, I will fear no evil” (Psalm 23:4)”?  Paul seemed to struggle with similar emotions in 2 Corinthians 1:8 saying “We were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself” and “What a wretched man I am?  Who will rescue me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24). Consider Christ himself. He lived a lonely life.  He was misunderstood and, in moments, depressed by the state of mankind and what he had been called to do.  When he asked the disciples to pray with him in Gethsemane, he told them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death” (Matthew 26:38).  Maybe depression isn’t only an ill we must fix.  Maybe it is used of God as it has been in the lives of those who have gone before us. If Christ and so many others suffered depression, why is it that we should never have to deal with it as we share in Christ’s sufferings?
    • Depression helps us walk alongside others who are suffering. Because we live in a fallen world, depression touches each one of us.  Some of us deal with it personally, but all of us have family members or friends that deal with or have dealt with depression.  A girl I used to mentor in a treatment facility and I had a saying, “When you feel like you’re going crazy, you are not the only one.”  If we deal with depression, that can be a gift for others.  It can help them know they are not alone and allow us to know how to pray for them specifically and maybe even mentor them in particularly difficult times.  This is another way God can use our own sorrow to bless others.  After all, isn’t it easier to “mourn with those who mourn”? (Romans 12:15) if we’ve actually mourned ourselves?  Paul addresses this blessing of suffering in the beginning of 2 Corinthians when he says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Corinthians 1: 3-4). 

    The solution?  Maybe there isn’t one this side of heaven.  We live in a fallen world. Depression will play a role in our lives as humans and even believers, for some more than others.  Don’t get me wrong, it is important that we ask for help if we are dealing with depression or any other mental illness, but may we also consider the possibility that it can also be a gift. For me, I wouldn’t trade my journey with depression for a different life. It puts me in great company, causes me to be more dependent on God, and helps me understand and pray for others who feel alone.  May we all consider the possibility that depression and other hardship may be a tool God uses to refine us and encourage others, a hidden gift from God.

    References:

    https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/campaign/tips/diseases/depression-anxiety.html

    https://sermons.love/ravi-zacharias/4301-ravi-zacharias-secularization-pluralization-privatization.html

  • I Lift My Eyes

    In the year 2000, I began a six year stint as a teacher in a treatment facility.   I had just moved back my home state of Montana, after spending 6 years in Oklahoma and Texas, when my Grandmother died tragically. I missed my family, and I was really questioning how I had spent so many years in the flat lands, so I moved home.  That year I began a six year stint as a teacher in a treatment facility.  My experience in this setting is and was invaluable.  As I taught, worked in the residential lodges, and helped lead worship with the students I taught, I was educated in what it is like to be abandoned, abused, addicted, or tormented by PTSD or mental illness.  This experience in understanding the struggles of so many different people has made teaching an art instead of a job for me.  The other benefit of working in this setting was the people I worked with.  Yes, treatment facilities have a high turnover rate, but there were so many wise, experienced, and Christian people I worked with who taught me so much about working with kids as well as life. 

    Among these people was the man I consider to be the wisest person I know-no offense to the many wise people God has used in my life.  He was a reserved, Christian psychologist who had devoted his life to counseling the most difficult, children and teens in our community.  Simply working around him was a constant reminder of God’s character.  One day the school was having a myriad of discipline problems-usually around the holidays, full moons, etc. . . . –and as soon as one fire was put out another started.  I remember I briefly stopped in to his office to vent.  I said something like, “Have you seen what is going on out there?  What are we going to do?”  He calmly smiled at me and said, “That’s why the Psalm says, ‘I lift my eyes to the hills’ (Psalm 121).  We aren’t supposed to look at our surroundings, we are supposed to look up” and calmly went back to work. 

    There are many times I have recalled this timely reminder, and when COVID hit, this was one of the first verses to pop into my head, not because I had memorized it as a child, but because this man had applied it to real life.  Once the cloud of depression I was in wore off from sitting at home and missing my students and co-workers, I really thought we (the country) would have moved on by now, but according to the news I watched this morning, the disruption of life has not only continued but gotten worse.  Now we fear the virus, a suffering economy, police brutality, racial unrest, riots and a permanent disruption to life as we know it. And our nation is looking for someone-the right leader (or politician) to make it better, the “right” outcome to the election.  How quickly we forget that we already have a savior.  It is a waste, a sin, to put our hopes in a new one.  Should we vote? Should we get involved in our local communities instead of burying our heads, yes!  But we should do these things knowing that because of Christ, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31)  The victory is already his and will continue to be even if the nation stays in an uproar over one issue or another.  Lord, remind us to keep looking up!

  • Why Does It Feel Like We All Are Fighting a Losing Battle Right Now? It’s Simple: We Have Forgotten Who Our Enemy Is.

    Everyone is at war with someone right now, it seems.  Just one glimpse of the news or Facebook feed yields images of battles, fought on our own soil, civilian against civilian.  The enemy?  There are too many to count-the left, the right, the police, the rioters and looters, the media, the rich, the poor, one race or another and many more. The end goals are as numerous as the enemies and the battle plan?  Every plan causes someone pain.  In short, we can’t win a battle we can’t define, so we all just keep on pointing fingers waiting for something undefinable to happen and satisfy this discontent feeling writhing inside of us. 

    Anthony Horowitz, and many others, once said, “You cannot defeat your enemies until you know who they are.”  Now, don’t get me wrong, if I ask most people, they will tell me who they think needs to be defeated, one of the above mentioned entities, or several of them.  I would suggest, however, that we, as Christians, are making several dangerous, sinful, and even fatal errors right now, and it hinges on one major problem:  WE DO NOT KNOW WHO OUR ENEMY IS!  In times of peace, when our lives are calm and predictable, we can hear verses like, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against  . . . the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6 12) and nod our heads in agreement.  We learned about the armor of God when we were young.  Yeah, I know that passage, sure.  But, right now?  While we are in the middle of a political, and in some cases, physical firestorm?  I would rather not hear that right now.  It is uncomfortable.  It bothers me.  I just want to be angry.  I just want to blame him or her, this group or that group.  I don’t want God’s perspective right now.  It gets in the way of MY agenda.

    The reason we are in such a state of frenzy right now is we have hunkered in.  COVID, violence, riots have caused us to get “entangled in civilian pursuits” as we are warned against in 2 Timothy 2.  Instead, we are supposed to ONLY serve the one who enlisted us, for we are not our own.  We have been “bought at a price” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20), namely the death of Christ.  We are not permitted to serve two masters, or five or six as some of us (including me) are doing right now. 

    So, what are you saying?  Should we ignore what is happening in our country right now?  Just bury our heads in the sand and go on as if people’s lives are turned upside down right now for one reason or another?  While we are clearly called to “Weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15), especially our brothers and sisters on all sides of this fight, we must remember who our field commander is and what He is about, the redemption of souls and the sanctification of his bride, the church-plain and simple.  You see, our commander isn’t of this world.  His mission doesn’t change with the wind like the leaders of various groups right now.  He is the “same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). 

    During the 2016 election, my friend posted a meme on Facebook which stated, “Turn off your TV and go out and love your neighbor.”  Just because the world, and our nation, are upside down right now doesn’t mean people aren’t still people-with pain, anxiety, and despair.  In fact, they are probably suffering more right now than ever before.  So, we must resist the temptation to get caught up in the plethora of battles available to us right now, remember the armor of God we were taught from Ephesians 6, and “run the race”, God’s race.  What a relief!  His race, battle, mission is simple and definable.  The enemy is clear.  And He wants us to argue, point fingers, and alienate those who disagree with us in order to prevent the real message from going out-that “the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23),  “The saying is trustworthy . . . that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners . . . (1 Timothy 1:15), and “the thief (enemy) comes to steal and kill and destroy.  I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).

    Lord, forgive us all (and especially me) for getting entangled in the affairs of this world.  Remind me that you are my field commander and no one else.  Help me to get out from behind my computer or phone and love my neighbor, whoever they may be. Help me to tear down walls instead of build them in order for my family and others to know where abundant life is found, in y

  • The Shocking Truth About Easter

    Easter is one of my favorite holidays. With Easter comes the hope of new life in Christ, Springtime, and wonderful memories of sunrise services and Easter egg hunts. And this year when we aren’t having Easter services or family gatherings, it is a time for us, as believers, to really reflect on the true meaning of this time. No busyness, no distractions. So, as I reflected personally this week, I was suddenly reminded of one moment, the moment I really understood how shocking Easter really is.

    My sophomore year in college I traveled to China with some classmates to teach English. The assignment was about 6 weeks total and included some travel and sight-seeing as well as teaching a summer English program in a remote region of China called Xinjiang Province. Xinjiang is a fascinating place near where Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon was filmed and from which came some of the Uighur men imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay came from. The students I taught that summer, most of which were 3 or 4 years younger than me at the time, were kind, happy, and eager to learn. Teachers in China are revered, and at age 20, if I even appeared to be disappointed in them, they quickly tried to make me happy by sitting up straight and paying attention. There were over 40 students in my class, and 99% of the time you could hear a pin drop except for one day, one lesson to be exact. In my class, my students knew basic English, so we were improving our English as well as teaching them culture. Now, they had seen English movies, so they really thought we were all like Michael Jackson or “Pretty in Pink”. I remember standing in a very hot Soviet style building with live electrical wires we had to avoid talking about holidays. The lessons were very basic explanations of American holidays and their meanings. As I began to explain the Easter holiday, my entire class burst out laughing all at once, not chuckling but laughing uncontrollably. They were asking questions like, “He rose from the dead?” in complete shock that anyone would believe such a complete falsehood.

  • Count It All Joy? Embracing God’s Promise to Bring Beauty Instead of Ashes

    As an English teacher, I give many different writing prompts to provide writing practice for my students. One of the most interesting prompts of late asked them to retell a story from their lives but have them add a different ending. Of course, the prompt is giving them an opportunity to change the story in their favor-a win instead of a loss, a place on the team, the grade they wanted, a dream relationship come to fruition, the reverse of a family tragedy. Every year, however, I have students who don’t follow the prompt-some out of laziness, some defiance-but this particular year, one student just wanted to make a point-the difficulty in her story had made her a better person, so she wouldn’t change a thing. The previous year her father’s business had failed ending in bankruptcy. Her very comfortable life in a beautiful resort town came to a screeching halt as she and her family had to move and start over from scratch. Despite the discomfort she and her family felt during this time, she wouldn’t trade the closeness her family now had and the maturity she had gained as she had to get a job just to pay for her basic necessities.

    For many of us,  2020 has been quite the year, especially for those of us Americans, Europeans, etc . . . accustomed to a life of ease.  Uncomfortable is an understatement.  Who would have guessed when we said, “Happy New Year!” we would be welcoming death, disease, lock downs, job loss, mental health crises, viral police brutality (and not just once) and now, curfews because of looting and rioting and more death, as a result.  Where is God right now? Boy, would we like to change the story of this year so far-and I would love to be able to control how it ends. Sure, we act truly concerned about what is going on, but what most of us are really asking is, “Why is God taking away my nice, neat, comfortable life?  When is all of this just going to end so that I can go back to focusing on myself and my family?  This is too much!” 

    Yeah, yeah, we know that God uses difficulty to grow us, and we reluctantly recall the command, “Count it all joy when (we) meet trials of various kinds, for (we) know that the testing of (our) faith produces steadfastness” (James 1:2-3).  The call to endure difficulty I can understand, but to be joyful, really?  COVID doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon, the riots continue, and the police are villainized and threatened daily.  Our daily lives, jobs, schools, churches have all been turned upside down. We can’t go see a movie much less take a vacation. What is there to be joyful about? Surely God didn’t mean it.  

    While Christian history is full of suffering, the Western church itself has endured very little difficulty of late. The missionary Amy Carmichael who devoted her life to rescuing Indian children from religious sexual abuse said, “We profess to be strangers and pilgrims, seeking after a country of our own, yet we settle down in the most un-stranger-like fashion, exactly as if we were quite at home and meant to stay as long as we could. I don’t wonder apostolic miracles have died. Apostolic living certainly has.” While the church is not directly under attack, the lifestyle of Western Christians is. Instead of mourning the comfort we knew, may we embrace the promise that these moments of discomfort and testing will allow God to make beauty from ashes. As Hebrews 12 states, “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:11).

    So, may we see beyond the current discomfort we feel-some more acute than others-and believe God. Believe that he can use this time to make his church-and us as individuals-more steadfast, more unified, and more mature like Christ and our brothers and sisters in ages past and present who endured great persecution even unto death. For this, we can be joyful knowing that this earth is not our home, and he has sent Christ, ” . . . to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn,and provide for those who grieve in Zion– to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair” (Isaiah 61:1-3).

    Count it all joy!

  • Effecting Change: One Life at a Time

    It’s overwhelming, almost unbearable.  Since March our country (and the world in some ways) has been in the throws of one crisis or another.  First, the #Corona Virus, shutdowns, the myriad of consequences from the shutdown, residual fear and uncertainty of a virus resurgence, and now, violence by and against the #police leading to protests, many of which have become life-threatening riots.  Daily, the news has new coverage of economic devastation and endless violence popping up in city after city.  In today’s world when we are confronted with a plethora of problems every day on the news, social media, we can easily throw our hands up.  It is tempting to say, “Seriously, what does God want me to do right now?”  I am not directly involved with any of these issues, but they are weighty, paralyzing really.  It is easy for anyone to become completely ineffective, unsure of what step to take.  When can we get back to our normal lives, the lives we know how to live? 

    For the past few years, my freshman English students have written a paper on the NFL kneeling during the national anthem.  While the debate changes slightly every year, the topic has not lost it’s importance.  For this essay, they read several different articles and watch a debate on ESPN.  In the ESPN debate, a few former NFL players debate with the host. In the debate, Ray Lewis a former NFL player, pastor and community activist tells Shannon Sharpe that Kaepernick should combat police brutality by becoming involved in the affected communities.  He says, “You must have a solution.  Because if you don’t have a solution, you’re just protesting for nothing . . .  to effect change . . . if you ain’t seen as a true activist, to go into these cities and do these things on a daily basis . . . “ (Skip and Shannon: Undisputed),  He suggests that kneeling in front of the nation on tv is not nearly as effective as his involvement with inner-city youth likely to be affected by police brutality because of where they live and how they’ve had to grow up. 

    For many of us reading this, the idea of getting involved in the inner-city of these affected cities is not in our wheel-house.  Our lives are in smaller unaffected towns or suburbs.  We are not involved with those communities nor do we know how to be.  So, what is our place in all of this?

    The first thing we all need to do is pray.  Ephesians 6:18 commands us to “(Pray) at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints”,, so whether we are staying at home in fear of violence or living our calm suburbian lives, we are obligated to pray.  We need to pray for our leaders and our brothers and sisters.  Minority pastors as well as pastors and churches in large cities need to be the first on our prayer list.  They have an opportunity to share the unique message of Christ’s forgiveness and unity of the body in a time of great division. 

    After praying for these churches closely involved with these police brutality and riots, we need to pray for ourselves.  Now, don’t get me wrong, we all want to pray for all of this to just end.  And this prayer for peace is not wrong, per say, as people are being victimized, hurt and even killed, but as the quote says, “Be a part of the solution, not the problem”. We ALL need to pray for a small opportunity to make a difference where we live and work every day. This will obviously look very different for each individual, but God definitely has something we each can do.  While many of us don’t live in a large city, we do live among people who are disenfranchised, who feel like a victim that the cards are stacked against them.  As James tells us, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this:  to visit orphan and widows in their affliction . . . “  (James 1:27).  In addition, we are to” learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause” (Isaiah 1:17) as well as, “Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute” (Psalm 82:3).  Whatever our place, we as Christians are called to care for those lacking position, support, and resources.

    Having been in public education for 22 years, I have witnessed many different attempts to help underprivileged youth.  There are many different organizations attempting to do this, but if there is one effective method I have seen it would be mentoring.  Plenty of programs give out free food, clothing, etc . . . but low-key one-on-one mentoring can make such a difference to a child who lacks the parental support they need to stay out of trouble and find stability and success in life, a way to break the cycle of poverty, abuse, substance abuse, the victim mentality, etc. . . . Now, you may say, “I don’t have access to any of these people in my current situation.”  For a few of us, that may be true, but the path to serving those in need is easier than we think.  Below are a just a few ideas:

    1.  Get involved in your local public school.  My children’s attendance in a public school gives us so many opportunities to serve children of different races, religions, family structures and socio-economic backgrounds.  It is literally at our finger-tips. Mentoring your child’s friend can be as simple as inviting them over, including them in birthday parties,  taking them to VBS, etc. . . .  If you don’t have children, volunteer to read with children in your local school.  Schools are always looking for those who can work with young children who are likely to fall behind.  My husband did this for several years and built relationships with many children in our sons’ school.
    2. Volunteer for programs like Big Brothers and Big Sisters or CASA.  Both of these, and many Christian counter-parts you may know of, allow for you to simply spend one-on-one time with an underprivileged youth.  This time does not need to include intense teaching, Bible study, etc. . . . These meetings can include ice cream, the park, a movie, and many simple activities.  For these children, being an example of a stable, respectable Christian person, especially over a period of years shows them not only that they are important but that there is a different path, a different way of living, and the love of God, whether directly stated or not.
    3. Be a coach or team mom for a community sports team or your local public school.  Now, your child may be exceptionally talented in a sport and be involved in the most expensive program out there, but I am advocating for the cheapest most accessible sports team in your community, the one that costs $60 for the entire season.  Get to know the families and children.  Pray for them and form a relationship with them.  Those children with single parents or those in foster care often form strong  bonds with coaches, team moms, etc . . .

    As we witness the pain many in our nation are facing, on all sides, we may be at a loss at what our part is in all of this.  Most of us will not be leading protests, anti-protesting, speaking publicly, campaigning for public office, but we can do something.  We are called to care, so as we pray for all of those involved, especially our brothers and sisters, may we begin to ask, “What would you have me do?”  We can all make a difference as a mentor, whether officially or casually.  In many cases, true change is made by investing in one life at a time.