Sometimes, It Takes a Chain...

"Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble." (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10, New Living Translation)

Get your act together.

Go figure it out.

Pull yourself up by the bootstraps.

These exhortations are so engrained in our way of thinking that we believe them to be so for just about every personal challenge we face in our day. When we’d really rather have someone else do it or fix it or solve it, the cheerleaders in our mind kick in more often than not, and we find ourselves saying: “I can do this!”

I haven’t kept track of the success percentage over the years, but I’d guess it’s not as great as I’d like to think. But when the next challenge comes, sure enough, that inner resolve rises up almost as a reflex. Insanity? Instead, it may be a megaphone from Heaven: “Hey…HEY…this is good, you’re on the right track, but something really important is missing.” ….

... A room full of guys seeking to be better Walk-ers—some who had come to faith only recently and some who had been on the Journey for many years—all put their hands in the air when the speaker asked: “How many of you know you don’t read the Word enough? How many of you know you don’t pray enough?” The questions were not meant to shame but to awaken, because when the Apostle Paul writes to the Romans church that a life of real, practical worship is keyed by not conforming to the thinking of this world but being transformed by the renewing of your mind, it was a no-brainer that ain’t gonna happen without regularly tasting and seeing and doing the Word.

You could feel the vibe in the room shift. That familiar aroma of resolve. And so, for the thousandth time for some, there was an attitude of “I want that. Let’s do this!”

Get your act together…again.

Go figure it out…again.

Pull yourself up by the bootstraps…again.

And it will work. For a few hours or days, anyway. Until it doesn’t again. And then you’ll again hear the megaphone from Heaven, a bit louder this time: “See, you’re trying too hard. Yes, there’s your part in stepping out, there’s My part in delighting to meet you there, but there’s also your friend’s part, and that other friend, and that other one, too. Well, you get the idea…”

....Earlier this week, my phone pinged signaling an incoming text, except not the usual single tone but rather several in succession.

It was one of those weeks when you’re reminded that life doesn’t stop just because you need a breather. In the middle of stressful schedules and deadlines and things to do and people to see came one urgent request for prayer after another. And of course, you say you will. And you do, and before you even realize it, that “I can do this” mindset tries to kick in even here. But it all feels like one more thing to do, one more (unnecessary) weight to carry.

So, you decide to text a group of people on your phone who you know will give more than a nod to “Yeah, I will definitely pray.” And for some reason, you no longer feel alone in this. With each reply, faith is stirred and strengthened. You begin to believe “With God, nothing is impossible,” is more than a Gospel story, more than a nice bumper sticker. The answers hours or days later are often cause for jaw-dropping rejoicing. Pings of praises everywhere. And even those that are still in the works are wrapped in a chorus of “Yes and Amen” for faith in things hoped for and unseen….

"For where two or three gather in My name, there I am with them."

...And this was the same Heavenly megaphone that was shouting in our ears after that gathering of resolved, determined men—the one that said “you’re on the right track, but something really important is missing.”

Two or three. Or More. The same Savior who came to bring the best news ever and to break every chain also said a lot about the importance of “one another” and the ultimate Lone Ranger I-can-figure-this-out-on-my-own kryptonite: “Apart from Me, you can do nothing" of eternal value.

Sometimes, it takes a chain to break every chain.

And even if you don’t have one yet, all it takes to get started is to look in the mirror to find the first link.