Throw Away People

Have you seen the movie "The Dark Knight", the second in the "new" series of Batman movies? In it there are two ferries rigged with explosives, one is filled with convicted criminals (and guards), the other is filled with "normal" people. Each ferry is given a time limit to decide whether to blow up the other ferry or if time expires have both ferries blow up. Some of the discussion on the "normal" ferry essentially revolved around the fact that the criminals on the other ferry don't deserve to live as much as the "normal" people so they should go ahead and blow up the other ferry before they get killed themselves.

I think we as a society have a tendency to treat certain people or groups as throw away people. Whether they are drug addicts, alcoholics, criminals, homeless, etc. we don't really see them as being on the same level as us normal people. Many consider these "throw away people" as beyond help or worse not even worth helping. Jesus experienced that mindset too. Mark 2:15-17 tells of a time when Jesus was eating with the tax collectors and "sinners" (side note - whenever Jesus ate with anyone he was eating with sinners) and the Pharisees were quite upset that Jesus would have the nerve to eat with these throw away people. Jesus actually made a habit of hanging out with sick people, tax collectors, prostitutes, yet the religious leaders of his time thought that he was wrong for doing so. Many people today feel the same way.

On Friday I had the honor of officiating the funeral service of one of these "throw away people", only she wasn't throw away. Her name was Paula Stierns and she lived in Sultan with her husband Sterno and her dog Bubba-Do. Most people who saw Paula the last several years of her life probably didn't look beyond her homelessness and her alcoholism. Many probably saw her as a throw away person, or worse yet didn't even see her because it wasn't worth it to them to even acknowledge that she was there. Someone hit and killed Paula a couple of weeks ago as she was crossing a bridge in Sultan no more than a couple of hundred feet from where she "lived". That person has still not been caught and has not come forward. The story has received some news coverage but I can't help but think that if a "normal" mom, wife, sister had been killed in a hit and run it would have received much more coverage. Although we only knew Paula as a homeless person that struggled with alcohol and almost died at least twice largely because of the lifestyle she chose to live, we didn't see her as throw away. Paula was a real person with real problems but Paula was also someone who loved others, who wanted to help, who would share what little she had so others didn't go with out. Paula was someone that Jesus loved as much as he loves any of us. Paula was someone that we loved too.

Surprise!

I went to a surprise birthday party this weekend for a friend of mine. You've experienced this before right - either as one of the surprisers or as the surprisee (perhaps both sides). Some people really love surprises like that and some people really don't like surprises. How about you? A lot of work goes in to a surprise party. People have to be invited, a location chosen, food, decorations, etc. The two critical components are keeping all of the guests from ruining the surprise ahead of time and getting the guest of honor to the party without them figuring out what is going on. From what I could tell, the party on Saturday was genuinely a surprise to the birthday girl.

This morning I was coincidentally reading in 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 about another surprise that is coming . Paul is talking to the Thessalonian church about Jesus returning and says it will be "like a thief in the night". That imagery doesn't quite give us the nice feeling of a surprise party though does it? None of us look forward to a thief coming in the night, there is no sense of anticipation or excitement with that. However, Paul goes on to tell the church "But you brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief." None of us know when Jesus is returning, we just know from His word that He is. If you are a follower of Jesus however, this event should be seen like a surprise party - people need to be invited (they must choose whether to accept), preparations should be made (we should follow Christ with all that we have) and we should anticipate the guest of honor arriving. Unlike our version of a surprise party where we have a reasonable idea of when the guest of honor is arriving, Jesus' arrival time is unknown to us. Rather than being an excuse to do our own thing until we figure it out, I encourage you to live a life of readiness, live for Him today and every day.

God Doesn't Give Up

I am ashamed to admit that I didn't see the amazing comeback by my favorite team Saturday night. The Huskies were down by 12 with about four and a half minutes to go and they came back to win in dramatic fashion. Some of you that know me would assume that I must have been gone, had other obligations to deal with, after all, that is the only reason I ever miss a Husky game. Nope! Where was I? I was in bed. I had given up with about nine and half minutes to go with the Huskies down by 9 and Arizona driving for more points. I was too frustrated, angry even, to keep watching my team mess up. I just couldn't handle any more mistakes, any more deficiencies. Now in my defense, I mostly left because I didn't want to say anything stupid in front of my son, nor did I want to throw anything at my television, but I also doubted my team's ability to come back. I did check on the game once after I gave up, it was when our linebacker made the "immaculate interception" and ran it back for a TD giving us the lead. Surely I kept watching after that. Nope! I figured no additional good could happen (we already had the lead) but lots of bad could still happen. So, I turned off the TV and proceeded to hear my wife and my son cheer as the defense held and the Huskies won. They got to see a great comeback, they got to experience the joy that came after so much frustration, even despair. I just got to hear about it, to watch the highlights and later the last 9 minutes that I had walked out on. I gave up!

There are so many lessons that can be pulled from this story, but, the one that I have been thinking about the last couple of days is how glad I am that God is not like me. God does not give up on us. For an example of this, read the parable of the Lost Son in Luke 15:11-31. Now obviously this passage in Luke is about far more than a football team but I think we can all think of other things in our life where we have given up on someone or something. But God is not like that. If anyone has a reason to give up it would be God, right? I mean, He created us and we are constantly turning our back on Him. God has given us so much, yet, we squander it, ignore it, don't think it is enough, etc. Even though we do all of those things, God always wants us, He is always there for us, God does not give up on us. Please don't use this as justification for doing your own thing - "I can just do whatever I want and then come to God later because He always takes us back". Instead, let this encourage you to come to God NOW, seek forgiveness for all the times you have messed up, recognize that you need Him and let Him lead your life. God doesn't give up on you!

The Devil's in the Details

Do you ever get so wrapped up in the details of something that you can't really see the big picture? This happens to me quite frequently. Many times this happens to me in my walk with God and in ministry. Because of my job, I do need to pay attention to details, afterall, I am the person that is in charge of implementation, operations, the day-to-day affairs of the church. I wouldn't likely be very good at my job if I didn't pay attention to details. However, many times I get so focused on the details (giving, attendance, events, budgets, etc.) that all I see is what is wrong or what didn't go as planned. I have a hard time seeing what is going right, what God is doing in and through me or in and through Crosswater.

Yesterday my perspective was changed as I had two brief conversations at church separated by about 20 minutes. In the first conversation a friend of mine pointed to the bulletin and asked if I ever get discouraged by the amount that we are behind budget for the year. I responded that I am weekly discouraged by this information (it is not literally weekly but certainly frequently). Approximately 20 minutes later he came back after being one of the counters of the morning offering and told me that he was humbled as he had just counted the most money that he had ever counted for our morning offering. Our current budget deficit was not completely erased by this offering, but it did certainly humble me and change my perspective.

I think satan uses my tendency to focus on the details and my need to focus on details to distract me from God. This week God has shown me that there is more going on than what I typically look at. He is working all around me, He is working all around you too. The challenge for me this week and going forward is to look up from the details, from the bad or negative things around me and see what God is doing because He is working, I just don't always see it. How about you, are you willing to take this challenge too?