The Exam

The two-wheeled dolly gave him away. The stack of reference books teetered precariously as the man and his dolly whirled a little too fast around a corner and down a long aisle to his seat. You could tell by the dolly, he was not ready to face our professional engineering exam.

As an open book test, the rules allowed us to bring any material we felt necessary. Like most people, I brought two textbooks, with small bright colored sticky-notes poking out from various pages. The Dolly Man raided the Library of Congress for its technical material, but there was no indication he’d looked through the materials by marking anything. At least one book looked brand new and unopened.

The exam itself consisted of the technical version of essay questions – show your calculations, and show step by step how you arrived at your answer. The exam was not the time to get acquainted with the information in the reference books you brought because your pencil had to be continuously flying across page after page. Success depended on being so familiar with the material that cracking a book was a last resort. To pass, we needed to already have the knowledge tucked into our memory banks so we could draw on it and use it.

I have no idea how often the guy had to say “Hello, dolly” to answer a question, and will never know if he passed the exam or not. The hours of studying and familiarizing myself with the content of my two reference books definitely paid off because I only opened my books two or three times, and passed.

In effect, I had already stored the knowledge so I could use it, just like the author of Psalm 119, who said “I have hidden your word in my heart” (v. 11), referring to God’s Word and His promises of deliverance. His statement implies he had not just heard sermons on Sundays, and he did not need to spend time wading through a library full of other books for answers. By studying and familiarizing himself with God’s promises in Scripture, they were ingrained in him so he could confidently face trials and troubles when they happened.

Life is an open book test. The questions are tough. Are we using the Bible for reference, or do we each have a dolly loaded down with advice from gurus, self-help professionals and pitchmen? Are we ready for the next big test from work, our marriages, our kids, and our health? If you’re looking for answers, God’s “promises have been thoroughly tested” (Psalm 119:140), so we can confidently rely on them when we get tested.

Pulaski

Ed Pulaski knew it was time to run. In August 1910, gale-force winds swept two enormous wildfires together, leaving Pulaski and his firefighting crew trapped in a canyon in the middle of the inferno.

He gathered 45 panic-stricken firefighters, and raced ahead of the flames to an old mine tunnel. “The wind was so strong that it almost lifted men out of their saddles, and the canyons seemed to act as chimneys, through which the wind and fires swept with the roar of a thousand freight trains. The smoke and heat became so intense that it was difficult to breathe . . . The whole world seemed to us men back in those mountains to be aflame. Many thought that it really was the end of the world”(1).

The men had barely packed into the tunnel when the flames swept over their trail. As the fire raged outside, it sucked fresh air out. Fire gas and smoke poured in. Pulaski ordered the men to lie face down on the ground near a trickle of water unless they wanted to suffocate (2). Imagine their disbelief upon hearing survival against a one million acre firestorm depended on a dribble of water.

However, God’s work is unmistakable when the odds are impossible. Ridiculous-sounding methods of deliverance are described throughout the Bible. Just stand still, and the Red Sea will part (Exodus 14). Stand in the Jordan River while it is at flood stage, and watch the dry land appear (Joshua 3). Stroll around for seven days, throw in some trumpet tooting and yelling on the seventh day, and the most heavily fortified city in the world will collapse (Joshua 6). Dunk yourself seven times in the Jordan River, and that leprosy will clear right up (2 Kings 5). You’ve been an invalid for 38 years, but if you grab your mat and stand up, you can walk away (John 5). A little spit and dirt mixture over those eyes and a little wash at the Pool of Siloam will take care of that blindness (John 9). We’ll have leftovers tonight if you use these five loaves of bread and two fish to feed 5,000 people (John 6).

No matter how dire the circumstances, He is always there with us offering life. When we have nothing else to cling to, He is there offering hope. When we can only wait anxiously, He is there offering deliverance. We just have to accept His offer to be delivered from all our fears (Psalm 34:4).

Pulaski’s men were offered a trickle. Even if his orders did not make any sense, they dropped to the floor of the tunnel. There, a thin layer of air wafted over the water, enabling the men to breathe and survive, and all but four of them did.


References

1. Pulaski, E.C. Surrounded by Forest Fires, My Most Exciting Experience as a Forest Ranger. American Forests and Forest Life, 1923.
2. Pyne, S.J. Year of the Fires: The Story of the Great Fires of 1910. 2001.

Unplugged

The Pastor’s lips moved, but “Grealve trhso thin nethstht tdownhely frheslf frnidsehs,” (John 15:13) was all I heard. The Word was barely sharper than any doubled-edged mush.

Loudspeakers positioned around the Sanctuary trapped the congregation in a crossfire of voices, and garbled the Pastor’s words. Loudspeakers located on the extreme edges of the altar hit people with sound from the front left and front right. Loudspeakers located in the rear corners of the Sanctuary hit the congregation from the back right and back left.

Each word from each loudspeaker arrived at each person’s ears just slightly behind the last word from some other loudspeaker, causing them to crash into and wreck each other like a multi-car collision. The bombardment of voices garbled the message and confounded the congregation each Sunday.

As an acoustical consultant, the church had hired me to investigate and solve the problem. So I listened intently with a few members of the church staff in the pews as the Pastor spoke from the pulpit. After a minute or two, they turned anxiously, and looked at me for some initial answer. Typically, when consultants or engineers get brought in to solve problems, people expect a lot of complex analysis, in-depth number crunching, and large, multi-syllabic words to explain the mysterious forces of the universe at work and how to harness them. But sometimes, the answer is simple.

So I walked to the soundboard, and unplugged the rear loudspeakers.

Instantly, the Pastor’s words became more understandable. By unplugging half of the noise sources in the Sanctuary, the Pastor’s voice became much clearer.

Jesus often unplugged, too. After feeding 5,000 people, he made the disciples leave in a boat without him, and “he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray” (Matthew 14:23). In Chapter 1 of Mark, while everyone searched for Jesus, He “went off to a solitary place, where he prayed” (Mark 1:35-37). In the Garden of Gethsemane with the disciples, “He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed” (Luke 22:41). He only wanted to hear one voice – His Father’s – and He knew the only way to hear it clearly was to the remove clamor of other voices around Him.

Today, so many voices battle for our attention. Kids, cell phones, mp3 players, co-workers, coaches, email, family members, text messages, social networking, etc., are not necessarily bad things. But when we do not control our own exposure to them, they will bombard us with noise. And we can miss God’s message for us, because the noise drowns out and garbles our Father’s voice . . .

. . . unless we take a simple lesson from Jesus, and unplug once and while to pray.

Wicked Smaht Married People

My friends Kelly and Brad asked me to speak at their wedding recently and define what marriage means by reflecting on the story of Jesus changing water into wine (John 2:1-10). Such trusting souls. Here is the full scripture passage and my reflection.

But first, you'd better brush up on your Boston accent, so repeat after me, "Pahk yoah cah in Hahvahd yahd." - Sean

Jesus Changes Water to Wine (John 2:1-10)
On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more wine."

"Dear woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied, "My time has not yet come."
His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."

Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water"; so they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet."

They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, "Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now."

*****

When Kelly and Brad asked me to reflect on this passage to help define what marriage means, I was initially baffled, and was more than happy to quote Jesus: “Why do you involve me?” I mean, between the two of them, there’s an engineer and a Hahvahd grad, so they are like, wicked smaht. They should be able to figure out what marriage means on their own, right?

But to define marriage, we should start by quoting Mary: “Do whatever he tells you” - the “he” referring to Jesus, of course . . . not Brad.

And what does Jeusus tell us? Love your neighbor as yourself (Matt 22:37-39). Love your enemies (Matt. 5:44). Love each other as I have loved you (John 15:12). This is my command: Love each other (John 15:17).

Love, love, love love, love, love, love.

Do everything in love (1 Cor 16:14).

Jesus’ miracle at the wedding is an excellent demonstration of what true love is supposed to be about – He did not draw attention to Himself, and His miracle was really for the benefit and enjoyment of others.

But for us, true love is not automatic. Typically, as individuals, we all tend to be self-seeking, get easily angered, and keep a laundry list of the wrongs committed against us. For love to be patient, kind, trusting, hopeful and always persevering (1 Cor. 13:4-7), and to truly understand the love that God has for everyone, He knows we all need a tangible example of what love is all about.

So, God brings people together in marriage to change them for the better, like water into wine. You will each help to change the other, shoring up weaknesses through the other’s strengths, filing off each other’s rough edges, holding each other accountable, and just enjoying the journey. You’ll each still be you, but thanks to the influence of your spouse, you’ll become better as an individual because of the qualities that God has brought together in the two of you as a whole.

Marriage personifies love – the love that Jesus asks us all to demonstrate to each other, and the love that God demonstrated to all of us through Jesus – unconditional, ongoing, and sacrificial. Your marriage is the demonstration of what love is all about, and therefore, it is your ministry and your witness to others.

So, if someone wonders what this “love your neighbor” thing is all about, or is curious about how they are supposed to “love each other as Jesus loved us,” they should be able to see you two – how you treat each other and how you treat other people; the example you set - even if you never say a word - and say “Ohhhhh, yeah. I get it,” even if that person is not like, wicked smaht.

Midgets

“Cut them off,” our coach growled. “Cut them off, and intimidate them.” Intensity flashed in his eyes as he told Tommy and I what we needed to do right after the starter’s gun fired at our cross-country race just a few minutes away. “Make sure that you guys line up on each side of them, so you can jump out and form a great big wall in front of them.” Tommy and I were each 6-foot, 4-inches tall. “They” were two brothers who were the best runners on their team, and topped out in the low 5-foot range, putting Tommy and I about a full foot taller. And for several years, us tall guys had developed a fierce rivalry with these short guys, also known as The Midgets.

“Make them go around you. Catch them off guard. Break their stride. Don’t let them establish their pace right off the line.” Then the coach’s voice dropped for emphasis, and he slowly repeated, “Cut. Them. Off. And. Intimidate. Them.” Because most of our races with the Midgets over the years had been close, I originally thought that a few steps coming off the starting line of a 3-mile race might make a difference, but I came to understand our coach was really speaking of psychological intimidation. If we could throw the Midgets off mentally, we would gain a much more valuable advantage.

When the starter's gun fired, Tommy and I bolted off the line and quickly sidestepped in front of The Midgets, slamming together like barn doors. The audible gasps and grunts from behind us indicated their frustration.

Just when you seem ready to step out for God or move in a positive direction in your faith, don’t the stumbling blocks fly out in front of you from every direction? Suddenly, somebody makes a snide comment, the boss expects you to work late, a family crisis erupts, your car breaks down, or it rains. And that’s when the doubt jumps up, cuts us off and intimidates us, and from that point on, it’s a lot harder to get mentally motivated.

But God equipped us to handle any obstruction, distraction or intimidation so that we should not be mental midgets, “for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7, NKJV). With God, there’s no reason to panic. Just stay focused, and keep going.

If you’re having any doubts, well, “who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth?” (Galatians 5:7, NIV)

Hair Whorl

“Your hair is backwards,” the barber declared. While visiting my in-laws, I stopped in a barber shop near their house. I had never considered getting a haircut in their town, had never met the barber, and felt slightly mystified by what he was trying to tell me. “I mean, your part is on the wrong side based on your hair whorl,” he continued. “The hair on your head falls a certain way naturally, and if you try to comb your hair in the opposite direction, it sticks up, especially right after you get a haircut.”

This all caught me by surprise. Nobody ever told me about this mysterious hair whorl thing or suggested that my hair was backwards. No barber in my entire life had questioned the way I parted my hair. No one told me there might be a better way to do things. After 38 years, I just figured crazy hair, all akimbo on top, was my lot in life. But here was this random, unknown barber telling me differently; telling me “Yes, you can do something to improve your hair.”

After agreeing to let the barber cut my hair with the part on the other side of my head, I walked out of a barber shop, and for the first time in my life, my hair laid . . . flat. And I left happy, as if the barber had revealed a secret to me. But how would I have known or experienced the wonder of flat hair if the barber had not spoken up and called it to my attention?

And how can anyone know about Jesus unless we tell them? “How can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?” (Romans 10:14) People everywhere have bigger problems than bad hair days, but how will they know that Jesus offers a better way of doing things unless we tell them?

Wink

The stroke robbed my grandmother of two major traits I thought defined her: physical humor and feistiness. Many years earlier, when her boys kept showing up at the breakfast table in their underwear, despite being told repeatedly not to, she arrived at the table one morning - in nothing but her underwear. Everyone showed up fully clothed for breakfast from then on. When I was small, she would put me in a headlock and give me noogies, but when I began to tower over her, she would flit around like a prize-fighter, playfully taunting me with “C’mon, put up your dukes!”

Once the stroke deprived her of most mobility and rendered her speechless, my perception of her started to fade. She just wasn’t the same person I had seen in action. Friends and family expressed similar feelings, usually with a hushed “Poor, poor Mary.”

One of the last times I saw her was during a dinner, just the two of us. At one point, she tried to lift a drink to her mouth, but dumped it all over herself. I expected to hear angry, frustrated grunts as I was about to jump up to help. But before I could move and before I heard anything, she glanced at me, shrugged her good shoulder . . . and winked.

The Message Bible paraphrases Proverbs 15:30 as “A twinkle in the eye means joy in the heart.” That simple wink indicated all of the visible troubles and physical ailments I focused on had not touched the spirit inside her heart, a spirit that made it possible to exhibit all of those feisty and funny traits that I knew and loved. I judged how my grandmother should be feeling and acting based on what I could see. But that wink let me know how wrong I was.

Years later, I came to realize why I was so wrong. God is not concerned with how we look, as long as our hearts are focused on Him, because “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). As Christians, like my grandmother, we are supposed to be joyful always (1 Thess. 5:16), regardless of our circumstances. In other words, when everything appears to be going wrong, can you demonstrate where your heart is by mustering a wink?

Take the Charge

“Take it for the team!” my junior high basketball coach would holler, hoping to motivate us for our least favorite practice drill – taking the charge. To take a charge, a defensive player works and moves and hustles to establish a position on the court in front of an onrushing offensive player, and then willfully lets that offensive player crash into him (or her). The referee calls a foul on the offensive player, and the defensive team gets the ball back. Taking the charge can be a great equalizer during a game because even the smallest player on the court can gain an advantage for his team by drawing a foul on the biggest player on the court.

Taking the charge is a tough-to-learn basketball fundamental because it requires a player to willfully and purposefully put himself in a position to get clobbered. In junior high, we practiced taking the charge by standing near the basket while all 6 foot-4 inches, 200-plus pounds of the coach came barreling at us, full speed. The lesson he tried drilling into us was that by getting flattened – and there is no way that you can take a charge without getting knocked to the floor – you were benefiting your team. Although charging calls do not happen very often, the momentum of the game can swing dramatically when they do occur.

When God’s wrath and anger against us all for our repeated sins demanded a sacrifice for atonement, He sent His only son Jesus to take the charge for you and for me. But Jesus did not just get knocked down. He was ridiculed, mocked, punched, slapped, beaten, spit on, flogged, and then nailed to a cross to be crucified, where He withered as He mercilessly suffered an excruciating death by suffocation. Isaiah prophesied “He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities” (Isaiah 53:5, NIV), “beaten and bloodied, so disfigured one would scarcely know he was a person” (Isaiah 52:14, NLT). Christ willfully and purposefully took up His position in front of God’s wrath, so we could all go to heaven. Talk about taking it for His team so we can win.

Gorillas That We Miss

You’d think someone in a gorilla suit would be hard to miss. Yet in 1999, Harvard researchers Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabris discovered otherwise (Perception, vol. 28, 1999). As part of an experiment, they filmed one team of people in white shirts, and one team in black shirts passing two basketballs back and forth in an elevator lobby. Observers watching the film were asked to count the number of passes made by one of the teams.

Partway through the video, a woman in a gorilla suit walks right through the middle of the action.


After viewing the video, 58% of the observers failed to notice the gorilla. In a similar video shown to a different set of observers, the gorilla stops in between the basketball players, looks at the camera, pounds her chest, and walks off. Again, 50% the observers miss the gorilla. After being told about the gorilla and after seeing the video again, the observers typically responded with “I missed that?!”

Seems crazy, right? But how often have we turned the house upside down looking for keys clearly visible on the kitchen counter? Or searched for someone in a crowd and missed them, even after looking right at them as they waved at us? Just because our eyes are open, does not mean we are paying attention. Just as the observers in the Harvard experiment diligently counted passes yet overlooked a gorilla in their midst, we all neglect the seemingly obvious when we are preoccupied. If that preoccupation constantly focuses on our needs, our wants and our desires, we ignore important situations or people passing right through our midst.

In the final judgment described in Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus divides the righteous from the cursed. The hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, and the imprisoned passed in front of both sets of people during their lifetimes, but apparently the cursed failed to notice. Their response of “Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not minister to you?” (v. 44) sounds a lot like “I missed that?!” To avoid the fate of the cursed, who is right in front of us that needs our help and attention? Look closely, since they are probably not wearing a gorilla suit to get noticed.

Stuck

The earth grabbed me firmly right around the chest and held me like it didn’t want to let go. I was stuck in a hole right near the end of the Wild Cave Tour offered at Mammoth Cave National Park. A Ranger led our small group as we crawled, wriggled, slithered, scraped and shimmied through the natural underground labyrinth. All morning long, we nudged in and out of some very tight spaces. But this time, I was wedged in tight.

“Relax,” said the Ranger calmly. He understood tense muscles tighten and constrict, and relaxed muscles remain supple. I, however, did not care, and fumed at him for being so calm and seemingly useless, just sitting there, while I was trapped. So, I gritted my teeth and determined to free myself, especially with the rest of the group watching. I strained and I pushed and I flailed. But the more I struggled, the more the rocks held firm.

The truth is, though, the rocks and earth did not have a hold of me. My own actions kept me from freeing myself. My own struggles kept me trapped. The stubborn belief that I could take care of the situation myself left me stuck.

The Ranger left no impression whether he believed in God or not, but his advice neatly summarized Isaiah 30:15: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength.” I would never have gotten free unless I had made the conscious decision to not worry any more about the situation, heed the Ranger’s advice to relax, and let go. Likewise, it is not until we acknowledge that Jesus is in control of everything that we can let go of the many things that hold us, confound us, constrict us, and trap us.

The truth is, no matter how much we struggle to free ourselves from bad habits, addictions, relationships, or any situations that grab us, bind us, anger us and scare us, we cannot free ourselves by focusing on them. We cannot slip through the trouble spots of life until we consciously decide to rest and relax based on the truth. The truth is, lasting peace comes only through Jesus Christ. He is the truth, and “the truth will set you free” (John 8:32).