Boston 2013

(Boston Local 103 IBEW)

My heart got ripped out during the 2013 Boston Marathon. Although we have all anguished over the dead and injured many times after similar, senselessly tragic events, I always had a sense of detachment. They happened somewhere else. I didn’t know anyone directly involved. I’ve never been there.

But having grown up in the Boston area and run The Marathon just last year, the bombings this year became personal. I had been in the crowds and experienced the joyous electricity among the spectators as a kid, and I was finally able to fulfill a lifelong goal of being the focus of that excitement as a competitor in 2012. I can say the commitment and multiple years of training and preparation it takes to get to the starting line as a runner is matched only by the years of commitment and encouragement provided by a runner’s friends and families. Friends and families that were ripped apart for simply offering encouragement – 26.2 miles of beautifully loud and raucous encouragement - where it is needed most.

I keenly understood many aspects surrounding this event, and when I first heard of the bombings, my response was intensely furious. I’ve got to do something! Instinctively, I wanted the perpetrators brought to justice. If I were being honest, I wanted an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, severed limb for severed limb. But, honestly, what could I do?

In 2 Chronicles 20:1-30, the king of Judah, Jehoshaphat, is faced with disaster thanks to an impending invasion by overwhelming army, and he’s wondering what to do. “Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the Lord” (v3), and he prayed intensely before concluding with this appeal to God: “For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you” (v12). 

The Lord answered “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out and face them tomorrow, and the Lord will be with you” (v17). The next day, as the people of Judah “began to sing and praise, the Lord set ambushes” against the invaders (v22), and the armies completely annihilated each other (v23). There is no mention of Judah’s people lifting a finger during the battle, only their voices. 

Whether it’s an invading army, mad bombers, natural disasters, a cancer diagnosis, bullies, or a host of other things that make hearts quake with fear, what can you do? We cannot control what might happen to us. As Jehoshaphat said, we don’t have any power over those things, and we should acknowledge as much by praying to the One who does.

The only control we have is how we respond to the situation. And if you are searching for victory, that response should include prayer, praise and perseverance, as the Lord does His work.

Influence

bostinno.com

I grew up surrounded by the unique and very distinct Boston accent. It sounds like this, and please, don’t try this at home; I am a professional: “Pahk the cah in Hahvahd yahd.” (Bonus Bostonian dialect lesson: The term “wicked” means “very, very,” as in “That scientist from Hahvahd is wicked smaht.”) R’s on the end of my words and syllables didn't exist, since that was the way everyone around me spoke.

So when my accent and I moved to North Carolina State University, I sounded just a wee bit different from the locals. “Where y’all from?” was the initial response. (Bonus southern dialect lesson: “y’all” is one person; “all y’all” is a group of people.) Once someone knew I was from the Boston area, the very next thing out of someone's mouth would be: "Hah! So do y'all paaaaahhk your caaaahh in Haaaahhvaaaahhd yaaaahhd?" 

After being totally immersed in Southern culture for almost a year, my R’s reappeared occasionally. I even developed a slight drawl. Like when I got a flat – I had to change the “tar” instead of the “tie-ah.”  

When I came back to Boston, friends would say “Sean, wheah you been? You sound wicked Southern.” Back at school, friends would drawl, “I reckon you been back in Boston. Y’all sound funny.” Back and forth I went between accents and dialects without consciously realizing I was adapting and changing based on what I heard from those people around me. Although I liked sounding, and therefore being, different from people, I was insecure enough that I didn't want to be that different.

The more we are around someone or a particular group, the more likely we are to be influenced by them, consciously or not. We start to act like them, pick up certain habits, and repeat what they say. Kids mimic their parents. Employees act like the boss to advance. We try to fit into the crowd.

… which becomes a problem when the influence of those people causes us to drift away from God. As Paul warns, “Bad company corrupts good character” (1 Corinthians 15:33). As my Southern friends might say, “Ornery people’ll make yuh ornery, and that’ll git y’all in a whole mess of trouble.”

What kind of sway are people having on you, and do you realize it? Because when it comes to the influence other people have on the way you live, the way you act, and the way you talk, all y’all bettah be wicked caheful.

Thorns

http://effectualfaith.wordpress.com

When a wild rose grew up and bloomed unexpectedly in the hedge at the edge of our yard, we decided to relocate the rose to a more prominent location near the front of our house. Then, two stems turned into a bush, and its roots began to spread. New stems began sprouting out away from the bush over a larger and larger area, consuming more real estate than we ever intended. The rose bush had to be removed, which meant dealing with thorns.

Although I had thick gloves on to protect my hands, the thorns cut into my forearms and stabbed me in the torso as I wrestled to remove the bush. It’s as if the thorns knew specifically where I had minimal protection, and attacked me in those weak spots.

Some people are referred to as “thorny” for a reason. These are the people we wish we didn’t have to deal with, but just cannot avoid, like classmates, co-workers, clients, neighbors, and maybe even family members. Their words slash us. Their actions tear at us. Sometimes their mere presence intimidates us. And no matter how we try to protect ourselves, our vulnerable spots end up hurt.

We spend an exorbitant amount of time focused on the thorns. We end up thinking about how to avoid them, or confront them, or survive being near them. Thorny people chew up a lot of mental real estate, consuming our thoughts and hindering other parts of our lives because we cannot stop replaying events in our head, exclaiming “I can’t believe what he did!” And the more we retell the story to others – “Can you BELIEVE what he said?!?” - the more established the thorn’s roots become in our minds.

Who is the thorny person in your life? 

Despite the prickly nature of some people, we are supposed to “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you” (Luke 6:27-28). Thorny people should move us closer to Christ because they keep us humble, and provide opportunities to demonstrate His character when it is least expected. 

Loving, doing good, blessing, and praying for those people who hurt us enables us to release our grip on the situation, and place it in Jesus’s hands instead. Thorns only hurt when we wrestle with the rose bush. All that loving and blessing and praying enables us to get a glimpse of how Jesus views that person, and to realize that despite our focus on the parts of the bush that hurt us, every thorn does have a rose.

The Faucet

www.sweetclipart.com

 

The faucet handle blew off as the water erupted, soaking me and drenching the ceiling. In the next room, my wife and daughter erupted with laughter as I dove under the bathroom sink, frantically grasping for the water shut-off handle to stop the geyser.

By no means am I a plumber. You won’t catch me sweating pipe joints. But replacing a washer to stop a leaking faucet is so simple, even I can do it, and have many times before. So, I do know enough to turn off the water leading to the faucet before attempting to unscrew the faucet handle. Usually.

At some point that particular day, between deciding to fix the dripping faucet in the morning and actually attempting to make the fix in the afternoon, I convinced myself that I had, in fact, turned off the water to the faucet. I truly believed the water was off. But, I didn’t bother to verify what position the shut-off handle was in.

When we hear something that seems spiritual or sounds Biblical, how often do we confirm it actually comes from the Bible? When tempting Jesus in the desert, Satan quoted Scripture out of context to help support his lies (Matthew 4:1-11). To fight back, Jesus also quoted Scripture, but correctly. We also need to understand the Bible, so we can distinguish the truth from the quasi-truth or outright falsehood.

Even if they are meant for good intentions, phrases like “God helps those who help themselves,” or “Money is the root of all evil,” or “This too shall pass” sure sound Biblical-ish, but they are not. The website blueletterbible.org has a great collection of sayings not actually found in Scripture. (Small group discussion idea!)

But what other sayings or phrases have we repeated, or believed in, or relied on without confirming they are based on Biblical truth? God may work in mysterious ways (another often-quoted saying not found in the Bible), but He will not contradict Himself. If Satan has the audacity to twist the meaning of Scripture while speaking directly to The Author of Scripture, I don’t think we’re immune to his word twists either. Whether sayings, bits of advice, or words of guidance come from a friend, family, community leaders, or anyone else, we should verify they are based on truth before fully embracing them.

“Test everything,” Paul implores us (1 Thessalonians 5:21). Otherwise, what we believe in could blow up in our face.

Sound of the Psalms

Thanks to Keith Johnson and Life Covenant Church for allowing me to give the sermon back in August.

It's all about communication using descriptions of sound from the Psalms. Trust me, I'm an acoustical engineer.

Sockeye Fishing Lessons

Her smile stretched as large as the sockeye salmon she caught – big, broad, and beautiful. As I scooped my daughter’s fish out of the water for her to see, I thought the tightening net would snap because of the fish’s weight. After years of fishing for trout in the rivers and lakes around Montana, fishing for salmon in Alaska was, literally and figuratively, an entirely different animal.

Our friend Aaron gave us all the same instructions before we started plying the waters. Turns out you don’t trick salmon into biting a hook or a fly. You don’t delicately present your fly in a natural way, hoping not to spook the fish. You don’t select the right pattern or color to dupe them.

Instead, you chuck this mass of metal upstream, where it splashes in like a cannonball. The weights and hook bounce and drag on the bottom, until the river pushes it just pass you. Then you heave the hook horizontally out of the water with a sidearm motion . . . and hope the hook happens to snag an unsuspecting fish in the mouth.

As rough and tumble as it sounds, there is a technique to it, which Aaron explained and demonstrated to all of us many times over the course of two days. When my wife and I were lucky enough to snag a fish, however, his instruction evaporated from our minds, and we reverted back to what we knew – trying to land a trout. The result: lots of Aaron’s tackle lost, and no fish.

But my daughter’s brain, and the brain of most kids, is like a chalkboard. Her little mental eraser wiped away the instructions about catching trout once Aaron started explaining how to catch salmon, and new instructions appeared. She approached salmon fishing like the child she is - innocent and unencumbered by any preconceived notions or I-know-what-I’m-doing pride, unlike us adults.

Jesus said we need to receive the kingdom of heaven like a little child (Luke 18:17). To do so, we adults need to wipe away all the clutter of what we think heaven should be like, and what we think we should be doing to serve Him. We just need to accept His personal instruction for us, act on it, and be patient. Otherwise, we’ll end up thwarted, frustrated and angry, which is not a good combination for getting into heaven, and apparently, not good for catching sockeyes either.