The Changin Of The Boots

Old boots are comfortable. My feet feel like they belong in them. My old boots have molded themselves to the contours of my feet through many days of working and many miles of walking. They still work. They keep my feet warm and dry. They still protect my feet from sharp and abrasive objects. The leather is a little cracked and worn, the soles are a little thinner, and the shoestrings broke three times but I just knotted them together. They still work and feel great. My feet love them. I love them. Why would I buy a new pair? Maybe because my wife has been begging me for 6 months to buy a new pair. Umm...nope. (I think her insistence might be their fragrance) Why get rid of something that still works and makes my feet feel great?

Just ask my back and my knees. At the end of the day serious aches in my knees and horrible back pain. All of the support is gone. The wear and tear from the years and miles have taken there toll. They might make my feet feel great but my knees and back don't agree. Even though they seem to be still doing their job well, there is evidence in other areas that they are failing miserably. I didn't think I bought boots to make my back and knees feel good. I thought I bought boots to protect my feet and to keep them warm and dry. After all isn't that their purpose? Yes it is, but I've learned my boots affect much more than just my feet.

My back and knees feel better but my new boots don't feel so great. They hurt my feet. They seem stiff and don't conform to my feet very well. My feet hurt pretty much all day. They are uncomfortable. They really make me want to just put the old boots back on. After all they still work and my feet would feel better. Why would I buy and wear boots that make my feet hurt? Because I realize this pain is temporary and the benefits will be long lasting.

Sometimes the old things that we think are working well, really aren't. We just might need to ask for another opinion or perspective. The old and comfortable ways often are causing pain or destruction in areas we would never think of. Often times the old things just flat out stink too. The new and different might be painful or uncomfortable at first, but the blessings and the healing that would take place would make it all well worth it.

Really?

"It's not if you win or lose, it's how you play the game."

Really? Who came up with that? It sounds to me like someone trying to make themselves feel good about losing. I have never heard someone say that after they had just won the game. As a matter of fact, I don't ever recall hearing any passionate, competitive, athlete say that even if they had just lost the game. Why? Because it does matter if you win or lose. If it doesn't matter then why are you in the game? Why are you competing?

I'm in it to win it. I don't care if it's tic tac toe, checkers, or a game of pig...I want to win! Don't get me wrong it is important how you play the game. I don't ever think that winning supersedes your integrity, but winning the game is the ultimate goal isn't it? Also, if you lose isn't that proof that you didn't play the game well? Or at least someone else played the game better?

I'm sick of this "make everybody feel good about themselves", "let everyone make the team", "don't hurt anybody's feelings" society we live in today. I thing it is a fertile breeding ground for apathy. If you know me at all you know how I feel about that apathetic, don't care, it's good enough attitude. It makes me wanna lose my Christianity. Where is your heart, where is your passion, drive, and desire?

If you want to feel good about yourself set a goal. Then don't try to reach it, but train to achieve it. It takes TIME, DISCIPLINE, SACRIFICE, PERSEVERANCE and HARD WORK. No shortcuts, no tricks, no pills, no lotions, just flat out passion and determination to achieve the goal.

All that is well and good, but God's Word reinforces all these principles in the race that we are all running. The race we call life. God has given us this life and He has also given us the goal. Paul shares in Acts 20:24, "However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace."


Am I running the race to win? Am I just trying my best or am I training myself to assure victory? This is where winning and losing really does count. There are eternal consequences. How we played the game really won't matter but the outcome most certainly will. We might be the coach who recruits "lost" players to our team or we might be the teammate who encourages another to get off the bench. We might offer a hand to another who stumbled over one of life's hurdles. How we build and strengthen the team doesn't matter. What matters is that we run the race with passion and purpose. Am I passionate or apathetic about this race? Am I running the race just to get a souvenir t-shirt that says I ran the race or am I running the race to get the real prize?

Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27

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. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

I could never imagine Paul saying, "It's not if you win or lose, it's how you play the game".

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My Adversity Creates His Strength

As I was looking through some boxes this weekend, (trying to find some old Walk to Emmaus stuff), I came across some photos of my step-mom in her last days battling brain cancer. I found my certificate for being baptized in the river and many other things that reminded me of the past 6 years of my spiritual journey. I looked through some old tablets where I wrote down my thoughts and expressed my fears, feelings and doubts of ever overcoming the situation I was in at the time. It is amazing to look back and see what God has done and to see how He used those trials and adversities to shape, mold, and mature my faith in Him.

God tells us in the book of John that in this world their will be tribulation but to be of good cheer because He has overcome the world. How many believers believe that so much that they live it out? I know I have failed to believe it at times. When I have been in the middle of the tribulation I certainly didn't feel or have much "good cheer". But the strain and adversity of this life gives me strength. It deepens my faith. It seems God didn't give me an overcoming faith but He gives me faith as I am overcoming.

A man from our Tuesday night group told a great analogy last week. He said our faith is like a river and our lives produce big stones. These big stones are the trials, the tribulations, and the adversity that are thrown into our river of faith. When our faith runs deep and the big stones are thrown in, it makes a splash but no other signs are noticed. The river quickly returns to normal. When our faith is shallow and the big stones are thrown in, it not only makes a splash but it stirs up and surfaces the mud that is just below the surface. It takes a significant amount of time to overcome and return to normal.

All that being said, I received an email this morning that quotes Ohio State head football coach Jim Tressel telling a story that seemed to say it better than any.

The Lakota Sioux consider bravery (wo-oh-hee-tee-keh in their language) to be a central virtue or value. But they understand that, as time goes on, the young brave will be shaped and strengthened by his challenges, tempered through adversity.

The ancient Lakota hunter warriors handcrafted their own bows from seasoned ash wood. There were two ways to acquire the proper wood. The conventional way was to find a young ash tree, harvest it, and let it dry for at least five years. But the hunter warriors were always on the lookout for a mature ash tree that had been struck by lightning. Such a tree had been dried and cured in an instant by the awesome power of lightening, and any bows made from it would be much stronger. Such trees were rare, but they were preferred because they had suffered the ultimate adversity, and ultimate adversity produces ultimate strength.

Emmaus Mountaintop

I went to a closing ceremony for a Walk to Emmaus weekend on Sunday. Thirty-five men stood up, one by one, in a room full of people and expressed what the weekend meant to them and what they were going to do as a result of the weekend. Every single man spoke of how awesome, healing, restoring and emotional it was. They spoke of how God's love was revealed to them in a new and powerful way. Most said they couldn't explain it with words. I understand because I have had the privilege to experience the weekend first hand. My best description would just be a "spiritual mountaintop".

When stating what they were going to do as a result of what they experienced, the answers were full of passion and from the heart. Many were going to be the hands and feet of Christ. Others were going to evangelize with a new passion. Some mentioned adjusting priorities and being better husbands and fathers. A few said, "I could tell you I'm going to do all kinds of things but I won't. Just watch me." All of these are great things to do and apply in our lives. I would classify them as visions on the mountaintop.

We have all experienced those mountaintop moments. Times when God speaks clearly and we see things from His viewpoint. (if that's possible) Whenever I've been there I just wanted to stay there. God never allows that. Those special, rare moments are meant to encourage and inspire us. They are teaching moments. God speaks and unveils himself. We see his Glory on the mountaintop. I believe He reveals himself and teaches us something so we can comeback down to the valley and live out what he revealed to us. God doesn't just want to teach us He wants to transform us and use us through these experiences.

It is in the valley that we live. (work, school, bills, the regular routine) It is there that we must live in the glory that God revealed to us on the mountaintop. Satan and the world try to rob us of that. The distractions and temptations surround us. Our faith is tested in the valley. Our character is tested in the valley. Will we begin to forget or doubt what was just revealed to us? Will we try to do it on our own? I know I have doubted and feared and tried doing it on my own. It never lasted. The vision was lost. I have also remembered and had faith and relied on God to bring the vision to a reality. I wrote it down, I prayed, I pursued, I believed. It happened.

I'm going to do the same for the men I knew this weekend. I've just wrote it down, I'm going to pray for them, encourage them to pursue their vision, and I'm going to believe it is going to happen through the will of these men and the power of Christ. Decolores.

Looking Back

Yesterday I shared about anticipating the future. About how I was always looking ahead and missing what was going on in the here and now. As I was writing/typing, God began to speak to me. Of all things, He began to reveal to me my next post. I couldn't wait to write/type it! :) How ironic.

I began to realize that looking ahead and anticipating what was to come is not my greatest time waster anymore. I no longer look forward with anticipation, I look back with regret. I look back and regret looking forward. Wow I really confused myself there.

I look back and regret those years I wasted pursuing the party, the money, all the things of this world. I look back and regret the choices I made as a teenager. I look back and regret how I disrespected my wife. How I didn't appreciate her or love her the way I've been called to do. I look back and regret how I treated my children. The lack of patience, understanding, and time invested in their lives. The example I set for them to follow was not honorable. I look back and see ways that I was disrespected, hurt, and wounded deeply. It is so easy to look back with regret, anger, resentment, bitterness and let it consume you.

Looking back is like a cancer. By dwelling in the past you allow the past to control your present and direct your future. It will consume you. It will devour you. It will chew you up and spit you out. I need to let it go. (Isaiah 43:18 Forget the former things; do not dwell in the past.)

Precious seconds, minutes, hours, days and months have been consumed, wasted and lost because I have been looking back. Wrapped up in things I can't change. I can't go back and fix it. Time continues even when I stop.

God didn't give me today to dwell in yesterday. I need to press on and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. I need to fight the good fight of the faith TODAY!

Philippians 3:13b-14 Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.