Big God, Little Problem

Do you remember my telling of our experience with the tubular pillow I keep in the Mustang for supporting my wife while sitting in the car?  I had accidentally caught it in the seat belt receptacle and when I unknowingly yanked on it we witnessed an instant snow cloud as the little foam pellets that fill it blew out through the tear that opened up as the response to my exertion.  It took me a few hours to clean up my wife and the car, but there still remained a stubborn residue of the sticky little pellets.  What I didn’t realize was that the whole underside of the passenger side seat was filled with the pillow stuffing…

That is until we decided to drive into town yesterday with the top down on the car!  Everything was fine until I got on the country highway and accelerated up to the posted 55 mph.  Suddenly the snow storm appeared again as a cloud of the tiny, pesky, white pellets began to swirl around the cockpit of the car and stick to everything including, once again, my wife’s legs in a thick film of white.  Needless to say, I was NOT a happy camper at that particular moment, but yet it was so funny looking that I couldn’t stop from laughing!  I think Piper was even enjoying it!  So, I immediately pulled over on the highway, unburied my wife and put the top back up!

At that moment I decided that the best thing was to rearrange my future plans to include a thorough vacuuming of the car!  And there it is again… I was able to be happy and rejoice in the face of a big mess (in my pristine car no less!!!) by dwelling on the results of what I believed my immediate future to be.  In my mind’s eye, the thought of the power of a vacuum became bigger than the piles of white stuff covering everything in sight!  (Hah!  You should of seen the looks we got in the Walmart parking lot as I helped Piper out of the car and then brushed her off to the delight of the shoppers walking by.  I was thankful for the pilots of the two C130 aircraft from nearby Fort Hood who made a low level flyover the parking lot and took the attention off of us!)

My experience yesterday is actually one of the keys of having a future outlook on your NOW.  As Christians our hope should always be in God and His Word over the negative things we see happening around us.  When the negative situations of life happen, our first thought should be to quickly rearrange our perspectives and make sure that we are seeing God and His Word as much bigger and more powerful than that thing that is staring us in the face right NOW!  Maybe the best thing to do at those surprising times is to quickly initiate the rearrangement process by verbally stating: “Big God, Little Problem!” and keep repeating this until He has gotten so big in your eyes that you are ready, assured and excited about the truth that “with God all things are possible.” (Mark 10:27 KJV) is happening for you at that very moment.

Of course this kind of trust takes an ever increasing, experiential relationship with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  It takes time in the Word and on your knees… and it takes practice.  In other words, it needs to go beyond mental assent and get into your heart through the practice of regularly putting the Word of God to work in your daily lives.  I have seen and known a lot of professing Christians over my many years in ministry that have a strong intellectual knowledge of God and His Word, but lack sorely when it comes to the development of a personal, experiential relationship with Him.  When the hard times came… and we know that they do come… they have tended to flounder.

What will happen to you the next time a negative situation hits home?  Will you flounder and fear or stand up and boldly proclaim: “I have a BIG GOD and therefore a LITTLE PROBLEM!”  If that is your response, then I would say as did the old knight in the third Indiana Jones movie, “You have chosen wisely!”  Have a great rest of the week, and as you do, keep asking yourself… “How big am I expecting my God to be in my life right NOW?”

Getting Past NOW

I stepped out unto our deck just before breakfast today and instantly noticed the change that is in the air.  For the last few days my weather apps has been forecasting warmer weather beginning early this week and today was the first day that I noticed the tell-tale signs that summer is almost here!  That warm but yet cool crispness that is usually present during spring mornings was definitely being absorbed by the warmth of the quickly approaching summer sun.  My backyard thermometer is already sitting at the eighty degree mark at 10:45 in the morning.  Tomorrow they are predicting temperatures in the low 90’s!

One of the first questions I had asked the former owners of our home the first time we toured the home was where the sun set during the summer.  Many of our previous residences received the full brunt of the hot sun on the outside deck which made it very difficult to sit out there except for the morning hours.  As it turns out here, the late afternoon sun is shielded from the deck by the bank of tall trees that comprise one side of our home.  So the pleasure of continuing our new tradition of sitting on the deck before dinner and enjoying the quiet of the early evening should continue throughout the up-coming summer months!  I must admit that this thought brings a smile to my face and peace in my heart.

The idea of future events bringing joy and peace to one’s life kept popping up this weekend as I continued my study in the book of Philippians.  Using chapter three, verse twenty with our looking “forward to the Lord Jesus Christ coming (back) from heaven as our Savior” as his basis, the author of my new commentary on Philippians makes the comment that “There is tremendous energy in the present power of a future hope.”  The first time I read that a light switched on in my heart as it dawned on me that this is the perfect explanation of the Christian standing in faith in the midst of any difficult situation that they may face in this life!

If you substituted the word “expectation” for “power” in the author’s statement, you would be looking at an almost perfect explanation of faith as described in Hebrews 11:1 where the writer of the biblical letter declares that “Faith assures us of things we expect and convinces us of the existence of things we cannot (yet) see.” (God’s Word ©)  When you think about it, we are being instructed to have a future perspective on our present situation.

This is something that I have lived with every day for the last eight years since the night I received the terrible, shocking and very emotional report from a very insensitive nurse concerning the results of my wife’s first MRI back in Tulsa Oklahoma in 2007.  To this day, it is a perspective that I see people dealing with every time my wife and I go out in public.  To me it is a simple process of Getting Past Now.  My wife and I made the firm, immovable decision later that same night in 2007, that no matter what report we received from that day on, that we were going to trust in God and His Word and immediately put any negative reports in submission to the good report of God’s Word and the name of Jesus. (See: Proverbs 15:30 and Philippians 2:10 for starters!)

At that point in time we clearly realized that it was time “to put up or shut up.” To put everything we had learned over the decades of our Christian lives, training and ministry to the ultimate test… in modern lingo… “to put our money where our mouth is!”  We decided that doubt, unbelief, worry and fear could have no place as this new chapter of our lives began to unfold.  In that instant we knew that our strength, joy, and power for the energy we needed to get past the NOW had to come from our expectations of our FUTURE hope as outlined in the truth of God’s Word.  His future perspective HAD to be our present perspective in order to get through this!

What we daily see is people who are making immediate decisions on how to get past the NOW that is staring them in the face when they see us.  Sadly to say, most don’t know that they can get past the NOW and they yield to its depressive, hopeless and heartrending results.  On the other hand, it hurts when Christians allow that response to overtake them.  What is even worse for me has been when those with exposure to the same kind of teaching my wife and I have received over the years in our Christian walk and personally know and have experienced my wife and the kind of loving, upbeat, encouraging and faith-filled personality that emanated from her, get stuck in what they see and have trouble getting past the NOW.

To me, getting past the NOW is what our Christian faith is all about.  Once again, it is having a future perspective on the NOW… the perspective of God overriding what you see before you and expecting that view to change or bow its knee to the powerful promises of God’s Word.

So… Does your future perspective dictate the results of what the NOW is telling you?  Is it time for you “to put up or shut up?”  That may be rather blunt… but when tough times hit, it very well maybe the decision that gets you past the NOW and give you the victory!  Have a great week, and as you do keep asking yourself… “How am I expecting to get past the NOW today?”

Jump In With Both Feet!

I had kind of an interesting experience this morning.  As I was speaking the Word over my wife before I got her up and ready for the day, I noticed that the morning light streaming through the bedroom window at the foot of the bed was reflecting off the diamond in Piper’s wedding ring.  Every time she moved her left hand a bright light flashed across my face.  It almost seemed like the Lord was visibly reflecting off the Word of Life that we were speaking as a sign of His commitment to it and to us!  Needless to say, that thought greatly encouraged me and put an extra wide smile upon my face!

Earlier in the quiet of our study, I had been looking at what my commentary described as the “Five Essentials for Running the Christian Race” as the Apostle Paul outlined in Philippians chapter three.  The last two of Determination and Discipline gave me the sense that Paul had been reading our mail!  Have you ever had that happen to you while reading your Bible?

Using Philippians 3:14-16 as his basis, the author made the comparison of the determined Christian to that of a successful athlete.  He stated that a winning athlete becomes a winner by not just entering the game but by doing so with a determination to win… accompanied by lots of practice and dedication.  He also added that it is not enough for the individual to run hard and win the race, but also to follow the rules so not to finish the race only to be disqualified!

These statements brought back a myriad of memories from my track running days and hours of lonely practice on that dirt track back in Junior High, the countless interviews I pursued to get back into management at Hewlett Packard in the 1990’s, the various stands of faith my wife and I have taken in the face of disagreement from many around us, the hours of research I’ve read concerning Piper’s health needs and potential benefits available to us for assistance in her care, to my daily ritual (enjoyable ritual… I might add!) of getting in my Bible study time at the start of each day no matter what is on my schedule that day! 

It’s all taken a lot of Determination and Discipline to the things that are important to us in this life.  It is like the athlete who is good at his or her sport, knows the rules well, and successfully plays the game using the rules to their advantage!

I’ve mentioned in past blog posts that my wife and I have always taken God’s Word rather literally throughout our relationship together.  But along with that belief, we have always been students of the Word in order to assure that our understanding of the Word was correct.  We’ve been faithful in study, quick to make corrections and humble (… Okay…most of the time…) to admit mistakes when they happened.  We have always heralded the statement that: “God said it, I believe it and that settles it!”  Piper loved to add the personal comment that “In reality, God said it and that alone settles it whether we believe it or not!”  I would have to add though, that each of us has to apply the Word that we believe, in order for Papa God to work that Word in our lives!

To us, much of what the Bible says is pretty black and white.  And it has always amazed us to try and understand how some mature Christians find it hard to believe or actually attempt to explain away some of the miraculous things promised to us in the Word, simply because they don’t match up to our natural, human understanding.  After all… we are dealing with a supernatural, all powerful, all knowing Supreme Being here… aren’t we?  Why wouldn’t or couldn’t He work for us in a realm that goes beyond our limited understanding?

I guess part of this is just my wife’s and my natural makeup as we never really liked to get into something just halfway.  If we’re going to commit to something, then we’ve always desired to give it our best and let God do the rest!  So that is my thought for this wonderful weekend ahead!  If your gonna do it, then jump in with both feet and expect to excel at it – In every area of your life… with your number one emphasis being your success for and in the Kingdom of God!  Have a great weekend, and as you do, keep asking yourself… “In What or Whom am I expecting to excel in today?”

Distraction

I have mentioned before how I like to stick to a predetermined schedule as I carry out the various responsibilities I have as my wife’s caregiver.  In some respects it is like being two people at once.  For I not only have my own personal needs to take care of but those of my wife as well.  So I guess you could say that I do just about everything - times two!  With that in mind, I discovered early on that it works best to follow a set routine throughout the day.  This has become even more important with the purchase of our new home. 

So, added to my duties for Piper are the necessary maintenance and upkeep items along with the pursuit of the various hobbies that the house affords me to indulge myself in!  I found that if I stick to my daily schedule with the necessary responsibilities of life, that I have the time to build things around the house, develop the yard and garden amenities and then sit back at the end of the day for a moment or two and enjoy the fruit of my labors.

Over the last few weeks though, I noticed a tinge of confusion entering in to the picture!  And it was just little things that seemed to be upsetting the apple cart.  Without thinking I would find myself doing things out of order, or mixing up things like the juice or yogurt that I normally add to some of Piper’s daily meds, or not being able to recall if I had done a certain task for her or not.  One time I actually missed her mouth when using a medicine syringe to give her some food and sprayed it across her chin and the couch!  (That one was actually a bit funny as she gave me the weirdest look!)

It wasn’t happening a lot… but it WAS happening… and it made me angry!  I found myself binding the spirit of confusion and asking the Lord what was going on.  (See Matthew 18:18)  Then one day I heard the word “Distraction” coming from my heart and I began to concentrate on what it might be that was distracting me… and why?

The sudden and unexpected passing of our dog really seemed to bring the confusion and distractions up a notch or two and I still didn’t have any specifics on the whys.  A few days after the tough event, everything seemed to come to a head.  My wife and I went to town to do some major grocery shopping at our local Super Walmart.  Everything was going rather smoothly and I was feeling quite lighthearted until we got in line at the cashiers and I noticed that I had forgotten to bring my wallet!  At that moment I was filled with all kinds of emotions from panic, to confusion, and to anger at being so forgetful!

So after experiencing all of that, I finally asked the Lord for wisdom and noticed a front end supervisor we had talked to before.  She was manning a register and called us over to her station.  With a bright red face I told her our predicament and she just waved us on to her side.  Then she told me that she would take our loaded cart to customer service and that they would hold it for us until we went home, got the wallet and returned.  I am thankful for the ride in the country on the way home and back as we live a couple of miles out of town.  The serenity of the countryside brought some peace back to me and by the time we returned to the store I had my lighthearted demeanor return!

It is a little funny now as I look back at that incident as things actually got worse when we got home and had another event later in the day that I ended up fighting in my mind and prayers throughout the night.  By morning I had resolved that distraction and began to see how easy it is to let the “THINGS and CONCERNS” of this life get in the way of our faith in God, His Word and His plan for our lives.

I was reading how Philippians chapter three is a sort of bibliography of Paul’s spiritual life.  What I noticed was that he was a focused man and did not let the distractions of the “THINGS” on earth take his view off from God’s point of view. And as a result, he was not upset or confused by things behind him, around him or before him.  He did NOT allow “THINGS” to rob him of his joy!

In Philippians 3:13 Paul tells us that the winners of the Christian race that each of us are running, are those who concentrate, who keep their eyes on the goal and let nothing distract them.  In I Corinthians 7:35 Paul reiterates this truth by declaring that “I am showing you how to live a noble life of devotion to the Lord without being distracted by other things.” (God’s Word ©)

One of the many lessons I have recently come to understand for myself these last few weeks is that the forgetfulness, confusion over the little things, the passing of our family pet and the unearthing of things of the past have all been used as ploys of the enemy of our faith to distract me from my faith and focus on our good future that Papa God has repeatedly shown me through the truth of His Word.  

Yes, I have to deal with those things… but not for long periods of time.  They are covered by the blood of the Lamb Jesus Christ and I just need to put them back where they belong and refocus my attention to my future which flows from my faith in God’s Word concerning my current situation and will soon be a part of my triumphant past.

So I am also beginning to see that distractions are not necessarily a bad thing as they demonstrate to me that I am on the right path - enough so, that someone is not real happy about my progress in the things of God and is trying his best to knock me off course!

Have a great day. Stay focused on the things of God and don’t allow distractions to distract you away from His point of view.  And as you do, keep asking yourself… “Who am I expecting to NOT be distracted from today?”