My Aching Big Toe

It all started when the cast iron griddle fell off the shelf and onto my foot, striking just above my left big toe. No bones broke or fractured, but then again, nothing was ever quite right after that either. Even though it happened over a year ago, my toe still aches from time to time when I land on it just the wrong way.

And when my toe is in pain, I’ll shift my gait ever so slightly to try and lessen that pain. That puts odd stress on my left ankle. Which means my left hip starts to bother me. Then I’ll put more pressure on my right leg as I limp to compensate, which causes my right knee to act up. Which means my back gets thrown out of alignment because I end up moving in this weird, herky-jerky motion as I hobble around. Who knew my big toe could make me a physical wreck?

A foot problem causes a chain reaction that wreaks havoc with many, many other parts of your body, primarily because the toes and the foot are intended to provide stability to the rest of you. They are the foundation on which you stand, and if they have a problem, you won’t stand correctly for long.

What are you standing on, thinking it will hold you up? The stock market, job, social status, bank account, friends or family name? They might not be as stable over the long term as you think. People shift. Seasons change. Things happen. So what or who do you rely on for stability when little things go wrong, and start adding up to bigger and bigger problems, wreaking havoc with your life?

Jesus said a person who comes to Him, hears His words and puts them into practice “is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it because it was well built” (Luke 6:47-48).

In other words, no matter what trouble comes your way, with Jesus as your rock-solid foundation to stand on, you won’t have to go limping through life.

What's that kid with the purple head saying - LIVE

From the Life Covenant Church 2012 Cabin Fever Follies.

The Last Mile

I was running out of time and ready to give up. Coasting easily to the finish sounded so tempting, and after 12 miles of a 13 mile race, my legs pleaded to just stop. But that guy several hundred yards in front of me . . . my little competitive voice kept drifting up through the pain: “Go get him.” I had been trailing him for several miles, near the completion of the Missoula Half Marathon. Even if I didn’t pass this guy, I would have been satisfied with my time and effort.


I lost sight of him as he rounded the next corner a block away. Crowd noise and an announcer’s voice wafting through the trees meant the finish line was close. I inhaled deeply and looked down, beginning to accept the fact I would not catch the guy and could coast to the finish.

As I exhaled and looked back up, there on the corner stood a lone woman, clapping.

Now, most spectators along race routes say encouraging, yet banal, things as you run past – “Way to go,” “Nice job,” or “You’re doing great.” This woman, however, made eye direct contact with me as I rounded the corner, cocked her head toward the other guy, and said excitedly, “Oh yeah, I think you got him.”

As I rounded the corner, the guy came into view, no closer than before. But in that instant, I knew the mystery woman was right. With her encouragement, I felt suddenly energized, and began to pick up the pace. The guy got closer and closer and closer as I chased him down, eventually churning past him without letting up until the finish line. I didn’t win the race – not by a long shot – but it sure felt like I had. All it took was a little encouragement.

We feel run down at times. We just get tired. We know plenty of people in the same condition. But targeted and meaningful words, more than the usual trite words, delivered at the right time can be uplifting and invigorating. “Gracious speech is like clover honey – good taste to the soul, quick energy for the body” (Proverbs 16:24, MSG), energy for us all to push on a little farther than we think possible. “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up” (1 Thes. 5:11, NIV) so we can all finish strong together.

Tear jerker

The tears caught me off guard, especially since they were mine, and I was trying to speak. As part of the LIFE 401 Sunday School class at Life Covenant Church, we were supposed to be describing how our relationship with Jesus started, and what it’s meant to each of us. I had told different pieces of my story many times . . .

Raised by a single mother who made me go to church as a kid, but I didn’t want to. In my late 20’s, my future wife gave me a Bible. Not to seem ungrateful, I started reading it cover-to-cover, slogging through in over two years. During that time, I got married and started my own business, as an over-analytical bundle of nerves and doubts.

The very same week I finished the last verse of Revelation, I attended a spiritual retreat, and suddenly, everything in the Bible made sense. Jesus spoke to me directly, accepted me and loved me. From that moment on, I desperately needed Him. I still have my doubts and fears, but thanks to my faith in Him, they are short-lived. Even though I’m still learning about Him years later, I can tell Jesus is watching over me because I put my trust in Him. I have no other explanation as to why things have worked out the way they have, and it’s been just outstanding.

A tear-jerking story? May not seem like it, but I have brought myself to tears every time I have been invited to speak to groups of people about what Jesus means to me.

Pop quiz: What do the movies Finding Nemo, Up and even Despicable Me all have in common? Not only are they animated movies, but they all opened my tear duct spigots. Bonus points if you realized another common thread includes a father or a father-figure trying to protect and connect with lost or rejected kids.

I never got to experience that, because my parents separated before I started pre-school, thanks to Dad’s unfaithfulness. After my cloudburst in LIFE 401, I realized my testimony actually begins there – the reason why a single mother was raising me by herself.

And that’s why I cry tears of thanks whenever I talk about Jesus.

Where my biological father offered rejection, God accepted me. When I got left out, He chose me. When I got abandoned, He invited me into His family. “God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure” (Ephesians 1:5, NLT). Those words are so sweet to someone who never had a father. The more I know Jesus and the more I understand what He did for me, the more grateful and thankful I become.

*Sniff*

. . . can someone pass the tissues?

 

Connections

My wife helped coach our friend Julie through the birth of her son, and Julie promised she would be there to help coach my wife a few months later when our baby was due. One of Julie’s favorite phrases is the exclamation “Holy Buckets!” as in “Holy buckets, it’s cold outside.” With three kids of her own, she uses the phrase liberally when she could be saying something much, much stronger and more colorful.


When our daughter arrived abruptly and unexpectedly six weeks early, we rushed to the nearest neonatal intensive care unit, an hour and a half drive away. Within the first 30 minutes of our tiny daughter’s new life, as the nurse and I were looking at her in her little incubator, the nurse said “Holy buckets is she doing good.”

And just like that, Julie was there, just as she had promised. During a very tense, emotional time, it put me at ease for a moment because up popped an unexpected, yet very much welcome, connection to a friend.

Simple reminders of other people in our lives, both past and present, are popping up all the time, if you notice. Certain songs. Particular movies. Uttered phrases. Unearthed pictures. And it never seems to be just one isolated reminder. After the initial trigger, typically other reminders cascade one after the other after the other. Then after recognizing these reminders, don’t you always get a surprise call from that person or meet them, seemingly by chance, in line at the store? “Hey! I’ve been thinking of you lately.” The reminders seem like some pretty strong coincidences.

So what is going on?

We all share a common connection, and his name is Jesus. He’s in all of us, and through Him we are all connected. He said “You are in me, and I am in you” (John 12:26). So when the thoughts of someone start popping into your head, who do you think is putting them there? Jesus reminds you of a particular person at a particular time for a reason. His reason. Whatever that may be.

So reach out. Call them. Pray for them. And, holy buckets, remember He might be reminding them of you someday, just when He knows you need the help too.

Granny's Bra

Heads turned when my grandmother walked in the room for breakfast. Or so I was told. Decades would pass before I was born. My father and his brother were young teenage punks at this particular time. And being young teenage punks, they kept needling their parents. Smart alecks, sneaky, and scantily clad for breakfast. Their breakfast attire consisted of boxer shorts and undershirts.


Showing up for breakfast without being fully dressed and ready for the day grated on their parents. It was their father who pleasantly asked the boys to not come into the kitchen in their underwear. They continued showing up in their underwear. Their father strongly urged the boys to get ready first, then come down for breakfast. They continued showing up in their underwear. Their father passionately implored the boys to let their underwear live up to its name. They continued showing up with their underwear as their outerwear.

Nothing worked. Nothing, at least, until my grandmother arrived late for breakfast that morning. She strode into the room and went about her normal routine. Yet, instead of hearing the usual clinking silverware, rustling newspapers and discussions about the day ahead, she moved around in thick silence. The boys and her husband stared at her. I’m sure one of them froze with a fork halfway up to an open mouth. She eventually came to the head of the table and faced them all . . .

In her bra.

My grandfather reportedly erupted like Vesuvius, chasing the boys and my grandmother out of the kitchen with a high volume, red-faced berating. Everyone showed up for breakfast fully clothed forever more.

At the end of 1 Corinthians 4, Paul vents about the arrogance of some of the church members, and the trouble it is causing. He challenges them, and warns them that he is coming to find out if they are all just talk, or whether they have some real God-given power. And he offers them a choice for this confrontation: “What do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a whip, or in love and with a gentle spirit?” (1 Cor. 4:21). There will still be confrontation. The results will probably be the same. But the discussion can either be harsh or mild.

When confronting their boys about their choice of breakfast attire, both of my grandparents chose their own way to confront their boys. Although he tried to be gentle at first, my grandfather used words of escalating harshness. My grandmother never said a word, which could have been misinterpreted as being complacent, but delicately used her delicates to deliver her point. And which method got results, the whip or the gentle spirit?

Which method will get us results next time we need to confront someone?

Which method would we want someone to confront us with?

Oxygen Mask

Do flight attendants realize they are delivering Biblical lessons during portions of their pre-flight safety demonstration?

When Jesus is asked what the greatest commandment is, He responds first with “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength,” followed by “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:28-31).

The second part of His answer always struck me as interesting. A lot of people probably read the verse, and think, “Yeah, gotta go do something good for someone today.” But the implication is that we can’t truly love someone else until we love ourselves first. Not in a selfish, arrogant, narcissistic sort of way; more like a comfortable, knowledge-is-power, confident sort of way. Once we address and overcome our own difficulties and problems, then we can help guide other people through similar issues.

But we can’t do that until we take a long, honest look at ourselves and our own shortcomings, and deal with them. We’re all blinded by the big, honkin’ logs in our eyes, and they need to be removed before we focus on the specks in everyone else’s (Matthew 7:3-4). Nobody can remove them for us. We each need to recognize the size and shape of the plank, and choose to remove our own.

For years, I urged my mother to address a particular problem of hers, and sometimes the urging got harsh. Although the intent was good, my method of delivery was definitely not. I knew I was right, and selfishly wanted to control the situation and her. Once God showed me my total lack of control, I began to approach the situation with a little more peace. Only then did she cautiously begin to listen to what I tried to say.

We can supply life and hope in the midst of pain and panic and confusion if we have loved ourselves enough to admit, confront and address the our own sins and the issues keeping us separated from God. Which is why we need to continually work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, not some one else’s (Philippians 2:12). And why we need to be eager to make our own calling and election sure, not someone else’s (2 Peter 1:10).

After all, when the oxygen masks drop from the overhead compartment due to a loss of cabin pressure, who’s mask is supposed to be adjusted and secured first, before assisting others?

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.

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).