Broken

When the wineglass shattered, rejoicing ensued. Much rejoicing. (See and hear for yourself here). My daughter and I danced, we slapped high fives, and we squealed and shouted so loudly in the detached garage that my wife heard us from inside the house with all the doors and windows closed tight. That shattering glass was our last ditch effort to get some part of her science experiment to work, and after hours and hours of effort and frustration, a short celebration was very much in order.

The experiment was supposed to be relatively easy: use sound to break wineglasses at their resonant frequency. We pummeled a variety of glasses with sound for hours and hours one afternoon with no success. We tried wineglasses; we tried glasses without stems; we even tried a mug. We tried not to get frustrated as the failures mounted.

After nightfall, we set up one more glass, and with the loudspeaker and amplifier cranked to 11, the glass exploded. After all that time, we broke only one glass, but what joy that one brought.

Consider how often God’s message of love and mercy and redemption and peace gets presented, and then rejected, by one person. I sat in church for years like a stout mug, with that message bouncing off my thick head. Just between 1^st grade and the end of high school alone, I probably sat through about 1,000 sermons and Sunday school-type classes. And who knows how many hundreds of thousands of times God tried to get my attention during the rest of my life when I wasn’t even near a church.

How many times did I stubbornly resist? 

How many times have you?

When His message finally resonated with me, I broke down and humbly admitted I needed Him. Apparently, when that happens, Jesus says “there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:10). 

So if my daughter and I get excited enough to dance and holler when one glass breaks after many hours of trying, imagine what the celebration in Heaven is like after years and years, and thousands upon thousands of attempts to get a person to take that step of repentance? “Rejoicing” might be an understatement. Dancing, high fives, and shouts of joy are probably just the beginning. The celebration might be downright raucous.

Have you given those angels something to celebrate?

Little Things

Nature was calling. Actually, nature was yelling. Loudly.

So I turned off the highway at the next exit, found a convenience store, and hustled into its restroom. The only available location for relief was a sit-down model inside a stall. So up went the seat, I answered call #1, and that was that.

Or so I thought.

As I turned to leave the stall, something made me hesitate, and look back to see a few yellowish drops sprinkled onto the rim of the bowl. If the mothers and wives of the world could get a word in here, I’m sure they would say it is all too commonplace from us boys, no matter what our age.

Typically, I would have thought, “Gross. Well, I’m glad they pay people to clean that stuff up. I’m outta here,” and left. But instead, a little ditty popped into my head: “If you sprinkle when you tinkle, please be neat and wipe the seat.”

My brow furrowed in confusion. The seat was up. Upon further inspection of the seat in its upright position, sure enough, several drops had somehow defied all logic, gravity, and laws of fluid dynamics to end up on the top surface of the seat as well. Yes, on the raised seat. Believe me, I grew up with a single mother and we shared a bathroom. My aim is good.

My typical reaction bulldozed its way to the front of my thoughts, and demanded the hired help deal with it. But a quiet and firm voice insisted I clean up my mess since it would be the right thing to do. So, my good side and my not-so-good side decided to have a non-verbal argument inside my head as I stood inside the stall, brow still furrowed. Hopefully, no one else was dancing outside the stall, putting nature’s call on hold.

“You really should wipe that up.”

“I’m not gonna wipe that up.”

“Please be a nice guy and wipe that up.”

“Why me? This place is a dump. Everybody else leaves it. Maybe it’s not even mine.”

Back and forth, back and forth it went like a tennis volley, until the good side simply said, “If you came in here and had to sit there, would you want to find that on the seat?”

“No.”

“Then, why would you leave it for someone else?”

Correct me if I’m wrong, but “If you sprinkle when you tinkle, please be neat and wipe the seat” is not in the Bible, but “Treat others the same way you want them to treat you” most definitely is (Luke 6:31, NASB). Cleaning up after myself in a bathroom seemed like such a inconsequential, unimportant and insignificant act. Even though nobody would ever know about it and I would never get a “Thank you” for it, my one simple act served the next guy who would come into that stall, whoever that might be. The Lord was not asking me to serve people by venturing off to be a missionary in darkest Africa, or by giving away my entire paycheck to the poor. I was in a convenience store men’s room, for crying out loud.

The Lord fills every day with these seemingly trivial events, but actually, they are tests. Tests to find out who understands His Word, who will do what He asks, and who He can have confidence in. By continuing to answer the test questions correctly, our responsibilities will grow and grow and grow. But if we cannot . . . well, . . . as Jesus said “Unless you are faithful in small matters, you won't be faithful in large ones. If you cheat even a little, you won't be honest with greater responsibilities” (Luke 16:10, NLT).

We cannot leapfrog past the simple tests because they provide the foundation for knowing what to do when bigger and harder tests come along. There is no telling what great and awesome things the Lord has in store for us. Maybe He will send us to Africa someday. But we had better show Him that we can take care of the little things in our lives correctly first, like cleaning off a toilet and not expecting to receive any credit.

Power Aware

What if we could see the how much energy gets sucked up by our electric-powered machines, simply by plugging them in? That was the idea behind the Power-Aware Cord, one of Time Magazine’s Top 50 Inventions of 2010. Lights wrapped into the cord glow as electricity flows through it. The more power a machine draws, the brighter the cord glows, so a person could actually see the highest contributors to their electricity bill. According to Time, researchers discovered that making the electricity “visible” alerted people to the items that used the most power, so they could adjust their habits and uses accordingly.

What’s the biggest energy drain on your life? For me, the all-too-easy, but honest, answer in the past several months is “Work has swamped me,” and made me too busy to focus on much else. I’ve felt impatient, cranky and snippy. I probably glowed as I burned all that energy, a beautiful hue of angry, frustrated red. Ironically, the more energy I expended at work to try and beat back the mounting aggravation, the more frustrated I felt, which irritated me even more.

But I should have known better. For years, I carved out some time during lunch to read the Bible. During this recent stretch, guess what I continually skipped doing? When I take back some measure of control over my schedule and force myself to read Scripture despite everything trying to squeeze it out, the turbulence of the day smoothes out.

Just this week, I was supposed to participate in a conference call that would have sucked up another hour I did not have to spare. After stealing a few quick minutes with the Word just before the call, I joined in. However, several key participants mysteriously did not call in. So the call was canceled after about 10 minutes. And I felt brighter, lighter and energized.

Every time we read the Bible, we are “growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so (we) might have great endurance and patience” (Colossians 1:10-11). As we grow in that knowledge, God also uses His Word to teach, rebuke, correct and train us (2 Timothy 3:16), which brings to light those areas where we have allowed ourselves to drift away from Him and grown dim, so we can adjust accordingly.

The more we read, the more we grow. And the more we grow, the more we glow, because we get plugged into the ultimate, inexhaustible power source. What are you plugged into?

Cushion

It seems counterintuitive. More cushioning should make for a softer landing. But as Christopher McDougall cites in his book Born To Run, that’s not always true.

In a series of tests on gymnasts, researchers at McGill University discovered that the athletes actually landed harder and with more force as the landing mats got thicker. “Instinctively, the gymnasts were searching for stability,” and landed harder to “ensure balance,” writes McDougall.

In a different study at the University of Oregon, researchers found that as running shoes got older and worn out, “the runners feet stabilized and became less wobbly.” When the runner used highly cushioned shoes, “their feet tried to push through the padding in search of a hard, stable platform.”

So both studies described by McDougall arrived at the same strange conclusion: More cushioning actually means less stability.

Surprising?

Not if you listen to Jesus. He consistently tells us to give up what we think will help stabilize our lives, and lean instead on something that doesn’t move - Him. Like in His instructions before sending out the disciples, Jesus tells them to forget about packing, and says “Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belts; take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic, or sandals or a staff” (Matthew 10:9-10). He praised and held up a poor widow as an example of ultimate faith and trust after she left herself with seemingly nothing because she gave “all she had to live on” to God (Luke 21:4). Jesus counterintuitively told a wealthy man to sell everything because there was still something he lacked (Mark 10:21).

Now, finish this sentence: “If I could just have _________, I’d be better off.” Our answers (our honest answers) will indicate what we think will provide the most comfort and stability to our lives. More money in the bank. Different job. Bigger house. Different neighborhood. More authority. More friends on Facebook. More real friends. Different family members. But after we get that, what will we need to fill in the next blank?

Jesus is saying, “Forget what you have and what you think you need for comfort and peace of mind. I’ll take care of you. What you think you need is providing too much cushioning between you and me, and is actually destabilizing your life.”

Qualifying

Kristin arched her eyebrow when I told her. Now, I’m telling you, too: I’m going to run a marathon this year, which by itself is a lofty goal. But, I don’t want to just complete the 26.2 mile race. I want to run it fast enough to qualify for one of the most prestigious marathons in the country, the Boston Marathon. There. I said it.

My wife remembers my last marathon all too well. Eleven years ago, my friend Jeff convinced me to run in the Rock n’ Roll Marathon in San Diego. As I staggered across the finish line, my legs felt like I was dragging them through wet cement, and my skin color melded seamlessly with my soaked white shirt. My legs hurt so bad, I walked backwards for three days, and I avoided stairs like the front pew in the Sanctuary. Whatever I had done for training did not prepare me for the actual race, and I paid dearly for it.

But as Paul said in several references relating the similarities of physical training to spiritual training, I am starting by “forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead” (Philippians 3:13). I’m ready to go into strict training, preparing to “run in such a way as to get the prize” (1 Cor. 9:24).

My qualifying race is not until July, but preparation starts now. To achieve my marathon goal this time will require sustained focus, dedication, determination, discipline, patience, perseverance, sacrifice and commitment on my part, not to mention the support and encouragement of others.

Sound familiar? If not, then maybe it’s time to pay closer attention to those sermons on Sundays, especially the parts about how to live like Christ. Being a Christian is not a spectator sport. God calls for active participation, and that participation requires preparation.

Come July, I want to be so prepared that I will be sure of qualifying for Boston. Physically, I need to start increasing the miles I run and my speed. In my spiritual life, I want to be so prepared that my eternal calling and election will be sure (2 Peter 1:10), and to do that, I need to improve my prayer life. Over the next four months, I plan on making strides to improve both physically and spiritually.

What about you? What are the goals for your spiritual life to draw closer to God? How are you going to “train yourself to be Godly” (1 Tim. 4:7)?

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.

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.