Influences

My note for today is What I learned in Sunday school, Or how a bunch of Okies changed my life.  I have been known to come in and teach in a Sunday school class now and then, and just recently I have come to notice some interesting traits that I use when I tell stories.  The more that I looked at what I did, the more I realized how influenced I had been by the people who had taught me while I was a kid.

Every time I tell a story I make sure to tell the kids that it is from the bible.  I let them know that no matter who is teaching them that they need to make sure it is from God's word.  Even as young as 9 years old, I saw the emphasis on having God's word open in front of you.  When we talk about Jesus and His ministry I usually summ it up to the kids very simply.  That Jesus was teaching people about God's great love for us, and His plan to save us.   It goes back to that first verse I ever learned, John 3:16.  Lastly, the one lesson that I have to make sure to remember is that the best lessons are not necessarily ones that a "taught", but the ones that are "caught".

When I was a kid in Sunday school, things were much more basic.  Curriculum was much simpler and not necessarily made for the enjoyment of the kids.  Today we work had to teach them on their level using stories, games and activities.  While I am glad that we do that, because God's word should never be boring for a child, I always remember the lessons that God taught me even in the old days.

Most of all I remember the last lesson.  I know what I am trying to teach that day, but what I really want to know is what the kids "catch" during the time we are together.  You see, when I was in high school, I helped with my first vacation bible school at the church I went to as a child.  I remember the kids, the story of Paul's conversion and time spent together in class.  When the week was over, the woman who was teaching the small class of girls asked "what did you like best"?   When it was my turn, I answered honestly that the best part of the week was learning the needlepoint that she had taught us.  I could tell that she really did not like my original answer.  She gently steered me to answer something more "appropriate", like how I enjoyed the story.  I don't remember it bugging me too much, but it was a little embarassing.  Looking back though, it taught me something very important.   Sometimes that most important thing I can do in the hour I have with these children, is to just be with them.  Sharing my time, attention and the love that God has given me for them.  To validate what they felt, learned or liked that day, even if it wasn't the bible point.   You see she had it wrong.  My original answer was a good one, because it was truth.  What she did not see is that a young lady had been impressed with someone using their gifts for God, even when the gift was needlepoint.  That is a biblical teaching, it just may not have been the one that they had intended me to learn.  That is how I see these kids.  They may not get the application I am trying to teach, but  if they feel God's love during that time, I know that they are learning exactly what they need to.

Closer than we care to think?

So I overheard a conversation the other day. A woman was relating the story of how when she gets to work she makes sure to set the alarm on her car. She does that to wake up the people who had been sleeping in their car at a local parking lot. She made it clear to the woman she was talking to that of course she was locking her car, but that she intentionally armed it so it would honk. Thus waking the those in the car because "they should be up anyway". That night I watched a movie made in the thirties called "The Black Legion". It stars Humphrey Bogart as a regular guy who gets passed over for a promotion that is then given to an immigrant. This sets him up for recruitment by an organization that is like the KKK in beliefs. It is a movie that shows the transition of this man from a good guy who just wants to provide the best for his family to an arrogant, mean bully. Eventually he is so caught up in the hatred that surrounds him, that his wife leaves him and he winds up killing the only real friend he has. It made me wonder, How far is the road between the careless words of the woman and the actions of the character in the film? It rung a bell because the character in the movie started his downward spiral because of something very small. Words. They were the hateful words of others that he listened to and accepted, and it reminded me of the callous sounding words I had heard earlier in the day. The woman seemed to think it was funny to wake these people up, that it was not a big deal to show such a small unkindness. The question begs to be answered, how far is it from something small, like a few words, to something that hurts feelings? Or hurts physically? How far do we travel before it becomes something bad, even evil? I am still not sure, but I wonder if it is shorter than we care to think. "The tongue has the power of life and death...". Proverbs 18:21...

The kindness of strangers....

On Sunday the pastor taught on grace, using the story of Mephibosheth from the bible. It is a story where David, who is king, grants a place at his table to the grandson of the man who tried to kill him. It showed how this king who had all the power, granted kindness to someone when he did not need to. As I sat there I thought about grace. I know about the grace of God and how he has saved me, but what amazes me even more is the grace that He pours out on me that allows me to be kind to people. It gives me the ability to love those who are unloveable, or better yet to love people I am unloveable. To see that kindness is a better action than anything else I can do. I had to go to the grocery store on Sunday and it was pretty busy. I had finally filled up my cart and was standing in line waiting to put all my stuff on the conveyor. As I stood there I noticed a lady behind me who had one of those small baskets filled with food. I wondered why she was in the line behind me and not in the express check out. My first thought was to just go ahead and get all my groceries on the conveyor, you see she had the option to go into the express line and get checked out quicker, as where I could only stay in the line where everyone had a cart full of groceries. It also brought back a memory of another time, when there was a woman who in the exact same situation asked if she could go in front of me. What was I to say? NO. She had a couple of things in her little basket while I had a cart full of food. She though, could have gone to the express check out, but the three people in that line was just too much for her I guess. So of course I let her go, I did not want to appear to be unkind. Then the lady goes ahead and does not even say thank you. Ugh. That incident alone bothered me for hours. What am I talking about, it still bothers me. So here I am again, remembering that day where someone presumed on my kindness and did not even say thanks. As I stood there though, I thought that today was somewhat different. Instead of someone presuming on my kindness, I was in the position to give it. That made a whole lot of difference for me. So as I started to load my groceries on the conveyor, I asked the lady if she would like to go ahead of me. She asked if I was sure, and it was then that I noticed that she was pregnant. "Of course", I told her, as I made some room for her to put her load down. I hoped she could not see my expression as I was somewhat embarrassed that I even delayed in asking her to go ahead of me. That is the grace that I like, the type that so overflows from what God gives to me that I can extend it to others. Where I don't have to worry about anything other than being what I want to be, kind. It may not sound like much, but for me, it is everything.

Viva La Revolution II

I was watching the news one morning and was listening to a young man describe the horrors he had seen while in Syria. The people have begun a revolution seeking freedom. As I sat there listening, he told of a comment his friend made in reference to the president of the country. His friend stated that "Satan would be better in his place". I was so struck by the comment that I went back days later to verify that I had heard him correctly. Now, I am not sure if he really believes in Satan or not, and I really did not think that the young man wanted him in charge of Syria. It seems to me what he was saying was that even someone as horrible as Satan, would be better than the president that they have now. How bad must the conditions be to say that? I cannot even imagine. That to me sounds like a man who has seen much suffering, and when hope for normal avenues of conflict resolution fail we are left with revolution. Now this is not a discourse on Syria, but on revolution. I like the word. Not really the "violent upheaval," but more the "revolving around to come back to a single point." As I was looking at the definitions today, I was struck how the two definitions play on each other. We use revolution to describe how governments are overthrown. Many times the "revolution" is due to injustice, inequality or plain old terror. The only problem with that kind of revolution is that it is only a "revolution" to the exact same place with different people playing the lead role. They wind up trading one repressive regime for another. Change is good, and history has shown that revolution is sometimes needed. How though do we keep the revolution from becoming just what we were fighting against? I watched a baptism today of five students, and I was again reminded of revolution. When Jesus came to this earth, He was a revolutionary. Although His intention was not to be the violent upheaval of a government, but a revolutionary change in how we relate to God and each other. These kids are revolutionary. I look forward to their growth, change and maturing into leaders. Those who will take this revolution of loving God with all their heart, mind, soul, strength and loving their neighbors as much as they love themselves further than ever before. The great thing about this revolution is that if they come back to the start, all they are going to find is Jesus. The same one yesterday, today and forever.

Hope and disappointment....

So what did I expect when I chose to forego fear? Would I write words of encouragement? Somthing that would be enlightening, inspirational or make people think. My visions of banishing my fears were quickly dashed as God revealed exactly what we were working on first. It was a hurdle that I was not even expecting. It was a tough week for me. Although I was excited for the first day of Lent to come, I was a little behind at work. On Wednesday night I was able to write my first blog entry and was very happy with the outcome. That should have been my first indication that I would face problems. It is that whole Elijah syndrome. God does something that only He can do, and the next thing you know you are knocked off the mountaintop and spiraling into the valley. The problem was that I had to stay up late to finish writing, and so on Thursday I was going to work on less sleep. Now some people can do that, but I do not live well on limited sleep. I tend to get a headache, or even worse I get cranky. When I say cranky, what I really mean is that I get angry very easily. So now my desk is a disaster area and my mind is not in a good place. I was angered easily, and while I was able to keep the anger from spilling over onto the people around me it ate me alive. How could I work on not being fearful when I was dealing with such anger? Even worse, I could not get my mind past it. As I thought about how I started the week, with such high hopes for Lent, I was so disappointed that I was dealing with this anger and not dealing with my fears. It was then that I thought that maybe it was fear that I was dealing with. Maybe the fear was that I would have to humble myself to those around me. To not expect someone to change to suit me, but to change my own reaction to what happens around me. The fear that comes from putting someone else before yourself, and the risk we take of them taking advantage of that position. Maybe the fear had to do with trusting God to handle the situation and change the person who had angered me, or even worse letting Him change me if I was the problem. All I really knew for sure was that wallowing in my anger was not getting me anywhere. So I decided that I wanted to do what would make the situation better, and the only way I knew to do that would be to forgive any perceived offenses and trust God to make it better. We will see how this week goes. Not much has changed from last week, except that I am getting to bed early and I am trusting God to give me the attitude that I will need.

Out of the box.....

So I got rid of the cardboard box. I didn't want to get rid of the box, but I had no use for it. It was a box that if I still had small kids at home, I would give it to them to play with. It was so large that they could pretend it was a car, train, or even a house. The box was so large even I could fit in it. As I sat in the box, because you know I just had to, I thought of how as kids we could pretend that we were anything. Then we grow up and find out that sometimes it is hard to be that person we want to be. Some things are just out of reach for practical reasons. At 5'6 I never thought that playing in the NBA was going to be in my future. Then there are other things that are out of reach because of my own fears. Truthfully, I am tired of being afraid and not accomplishing the things I want to. So this Lent, and I am going to give up something. What I will be giving up is a little different. I am giving up fear. For the next 40 days I am going to give up the fears that usually hold me back in the way I truly want to live. The way I feel God would want me to live. I am not sure what is going to come my way, but I know that it is not going to be comfortable. What do I fear? More than I could tell you here in a few short sentences. I am looking forward to the next 40 days, as I feel I have a lot to accomplish. Truth be told, I am kind of scared of what kind of decisions I will have to make, but I know that God only challenges me with tasks that make me grow. So here we go....out of the box and into the real world.