Journey in the present

The Divine Race

2009-11-23T20:48:00.000-08:00

Each day I set off in His divine will. I begin with a posture to serve, to love, to endure, to persevere. I start running. Somewhere in the course of it I get weary, my mind wanders, I think about stopping or walking or quitting.

Every ending is a beginning. The end of life is the beginning of death. The stopping of the race, being virtuous in the things of God is the beginning of the race of evil. You might question that. Go ahead, think on it for a minute. If I stop in the living in God's will, then who's will am I doing? If it is mine it is most likely self-serving. If it someone else's it is most likely serving their selves. Even if it looks good it's really not. For God alone is good. Something done in His will serves His glory. All other service is selfish. The race is being run for my fame. The problem is I like fame and in my glory is pride and arrogance.

Paul says, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.”1

I’m running the race so that the prize is won, not for me, not for many, but for Him, Jesus. Many will benefit, many will come to know life, many will feel loved. But, only one will get the glory

Some of us are not sure we should run for another’s glory. Paul says to this, “who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth?, You were running a good race.”2

At horse races the spectators intent on victory shout to their favorites in the contest, even though the horses are eager to run. From the stands they participate in the race with their eyes, thinking to incite the jockey to keener effort, at the same time urging the horses on while leaning forward and flailing the air with their outstretched hands instead of a whip.

They do this not because their actions themselves contribute anything to the victory; how could they, they are not running, but in this way, by their good will, they eagerly show in voice and deed their concern for the contestants.

How much concern do we show for the contestants? This is where I fail.

Recently, I have been running the race of encouraging and serving my family. Making it my importance what is important to them. Helping a little. Making a cup of coffee, sitting to help my daughter with school, waking my son to chat with a fb friend.

I feel like the spectators at the horse race. They are running the race and competing admirably in the divine race or virtue, being light-footed and leaping and straining vigorously constantly for the prize. I exhort, I encourage, I listen and come along side and pray. All the while waving my ticket in the air leaning over the rail shouting and screaming with joy and anticipation saying “increase your speed.”3

Keep running I’m rooting for ya!

1-1Cor9:24

2-Gal 5:7

3-Gregory of Nyssa., Devotional Classics: The Life of Moses: Running the Race (San Francisco, Harper Collins, 1993) 123.

In Him

2009-10-04T07:12:00.000-07:00

There is no other place that is home to the missionary than in Him. Jesus was akin to resting his head in places that were not his home. Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."(Mt 8:20).

Jesus had just healed the multitudes and was about to calm the storm but in the midst of these great miracles our Lord’s words tell us where His home is and the cost of following Him. What, you did not see it? Where His home was? Its right there listed in ch. 8 verse 14 and number 7 see it? Also, in 20 and 26.

His home: it’s in Him, the Father, His will. The same place our home is.

I am drawn to think of the nights Jesus possibly lied awake for hours or wept Himself to sleep as His heart burdened with compassion for us. Thinking of the world He was in, the world He left, the reconciliation He would bring. Lonely?, heartbroken?, removed? Prayerful? Yes. He didn’t weep for Himself but for us. Jesus was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief (Isa 53:3).

The scriptures say He knew all of our being so that He could offer Himself complete. He knows where we lay our heads. He knows the tears we cry in loneliness. He can both empathisize and sympathisize with the pains and our sorrows. He knows our greatest moments and our pitfalls. He is there with us and has been there Himself. That’s why He can comfort and bring calm to the storm. Why only He can heal our hurts, illnesses and loneliness. In Him is our resting place where we are to rest our hearts, minds and souls, for we also are akin to laying our heads in places that are not ours.

In Him…

A "Golf Club" Teaches

2009-07-23T19:45:00.000-07:00

I have witnessed something extraordinary today. Maybe it will seem ordinary to you. My children have an innate curiosity toward anything that is mine. My iTouch, my knife, my money clip, my enlarging girth and today it was my golf club. See today I was going to go golfing but realized after a few practice swings that my torn calf muscle really couldn't handle the stress of some 2-300 swings of my golf club. I'm not that poor a golfer, really, but I take a few practice swings before addressing the ball which accounts for the high swing count.

As I returned into the house this morning and laid to rest my driver against the wall my daughters curiosity got the best of her and she picked up the club. "It's so much lighter than I thought it would be, it looks like it should be heavy", she exclaimed. That brought the attention of her brother to the instrument. Without asking to hold it Timmy took hold of the grip end being offered to him as his sister said to him, "see how light it is". What happened next is classic brother-sister warfare as one wants something and the other one doesn't wish to relinquish it. A mild volcanic eruption occurred and hot lava oozed in the form of dissenting words between the two. I enter the room as a tongue protruded from one and then the other. I take action to remove the club from their hands and divide and conquer, each to his/her corner and then sit down as silence settles in the room.

Why do these things happen between siblings? When will they learn? Questions unanswered rifle through my mind as I seek a peaceful ending to this encounter. I feel sometimes that I'm failing as a father. Events like this occur too often without any reconciliation, how can that happen differently? I struggle against father-time, questioning, is there even enough available to remedy all that just occurred? What just occurred? Why bother?

But, this morning I prayed something different. I asked "teach me to teach them".

I pause a moment gathering myself. What races through my mind is every little word, action, unspoken thought, fear, concern, hatred, distrust and curiosity that existed in this moment interaction between my children, and then I did this;

I called them together and asked one of them the story of what happened. Then gave the other their chance being careful not to allow accusations but to listen to truth. The truth uncovered something profound that my children didn't know about themselves. They don't trust each other. They are both afraid that the other will not act lovingly toward them. As a result they act selfishly.

The Exhaustive Teaching: Literal and Figurative
Juliette had the golf club when her brother entered the room. She wanted him to experience the lightness of the club for himself that he would also agree that it's looks are deceiving. She without speaking offered him the club which he accepted by grasping the end. He then shook it to release her hands from their grip so he could feel the weight of the club, which is what she wanted him to experience, but in that moment she unconsciously realized that once she let it go he may not return it to her and therefore she held it more tightly. Then because each is not getting what they want, to hold the club, the words, the tongues, the gestures and disgruntled noises occur.

In our moment of divine instruction, I say our moment because I learned this morning too, we discovered that Juliette didn't want to let go because she was afraid her brother wouldn't return the club. That uncovers her lack of trust in him. Entirely justifiable. Her brother was not planning to return the club to her but was already premeditating giving it to me or running with it to the garage. Her fears confirmed. His reason for the planning of escape, he has been hurt in the past for which he has yet to forgive and therefore desires to enact revenge by taking advantage of this situation. All this in a matter of 30 seconds of time.

The reconciliation process to remedy this encounter took more than five minutes to uncover these feelings, hurts, distrust, pride, and plots. As we all recognized our condition we smiled to acknowledge that we had been honest, it felt good. In the past I have tended toward not wanting to exhaust the time for reconciliation, today was different. Remember I asked "teach me to teach them". I need help. So we prayed that our God would help us to forgive the other for our hurts. We asked to be able to love each other more, to be united in our state whether in America or on earthiopia. I hope pray your time reading this was worth something.

Live life,
T