A Story to Live

Photo by Kyle Johnson on Unsplash

Once upon a time, in a little town not very far away, there was a young boy who was wide-eyed with the sights and sounds and aromas of a summer festival. He drank an orange soda to stay cool and ate cotton candy just because, and took a turn on every carnival ride.

Except for one. The most tempting one of them all. The one he knew would make him dizzy. But he kept looking at all the kids sitting on this huge swing set and going around and around with big smiles on their faces. What could go wrong? He had to try it, in spite of his parents’ “you’ll be sorry” warnings.

And at first, it was like a nice slow but huge ride on the backyard swing, the kind that makes you laugh out loud for joy. But before long, things got out of control quickly. Everyone else was screaming with delight. The young boy, getting dizzier and sicker to his stomach by the second as the orange soda and cotton candy danced, began to scream, “Dad, dad! Get me off! Get me off!” And after what seemed like an eternity but was really only a matter of minutes, everything stopped. Except for the young boy’s world, which kept spinning and spinning and spinning. His dad helped him over under a big shady tree, put his arm around him, and stayed right beside him. No “I told you so!” Just stayed there. 

But soon, there came a time when the young boy needed to get going, to put one foot in front of the other again. Far away from the carnival rides and the things that dazzled, and toward his home. At first, he still felt weak and nauseous and unsteady. And so his dad lifted him upon his shoulders and carried him toward their car and home. Later in the day, everything had finally stopped spinning for the young boy, and he was back enjoying life at a cookout, but all the time checking to see that his dad was still around. And finding peace and comfort that he was. Never more than a shout away…

…Not everyone has good memories of their dad. Not everyone has a dad anymore. Not everyone has been a dad. But the ones about my dad, like this one, that stand out most vividly seem to be the ones that God uses to tap me on the shoulder to remind me about Himself, when I forget or when I need it the most: “See, this is who I AM and have been to you in your life’s journey, from hearing your cry to saving you from the dizzying things you thought would satisfy, to staying with you every step of the way, to carrying you when you couldn’t carry yourself, to always being as close as your next breath to guide you as you have been living your life. And I AM still here...”

I waited patiently for God to help me;

then He listened and heard my cry.

He lifted me out of the pit of despair,

out from the bog and the mire,

and set my feet on a hard, firm path, 

and steadied me as I walked along.

He has given me a new song to sing, 

of praises to our God.—Psalm 40:1-3, Living

But as my dad modeled, and as my Dad has modeled, the story was never meant to end there. Especially now:

“My command is this: love each other as I have loved you.”—John 15:12

Selah.

A Snapshot Worth Remembering (Revisited)

"So seize any opportunity the Lord gives you to do good things and be a blessing to everyone..." — Galatians 6:10, The Voice

Reflections on serving the community with a meal, and observing with the camera lens that some of the most important ministries that any of us can do take place before anyone walks through the door (or walks into our day)…

Lord, help us to never underestimate the renewing, refreshing, re-energizing, hope-filled, comforting power of a simple spoken word of encouragement.

There is no one who is exempt from needing one.

Even the strongest, boldest, most determined, seemingly most together person gets completely worn out.

This is no small matter.

This is huge.

Because You have urged, commanded, exhorted, reminded, and poked us — fathers, mothers, friends, co-workers, spiritual parents and mentors — from just about every angle, and more than 70 times in Your Word, to encourage one another.

In the household of faith, yes.

But even to those who may not know You (yet).

"To proclaim good news to the poor...

To bind up the brokenhearted."

To make war against the darkness of negativity, hateful words and deeds, and the fear-induced spirit of the 24/7 news cycle,

By speaking wonderful words of life into someone's atmosphere of weariness.

Because You have always been the One who comforts the downcast not just in theory but in person, as prophesied and then modeled in Your lived-out life:

The Lord God has given Me, His Servant, the tongue of disciples, as One who is taught,

That I may know how to sustain the weary with a word.

He awakens Me morning by morning,

He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple, as One who is taught. (Isaiah 50:4)  

It's the worship song that never ends:

"As the Father has sent Me, even so I am sending you."

"The beautiful thing about encouragement is that anyone can do it."— Chuck Swindoll

Republished from last fall in honor of Leo McQuillan (shown in the middle of the photo at the top, greeting people at one of my church's community dinners), who graduated to Heaven yesterday afternoon. Leo lived this Vitamin. The definition of "faithful servant," Leo truly made everyone feel welcome with a genuine, enthusiastic and often humorous greeting, and never hesitated to proclaim the Good News "even to those who may not know You (yet)." The joy of the Lord was Leo's strength, and he is now experiencing it in all of its fullness. The torch has been passed...

The Simple Path

My bookcase has numerous books on how to be a disciple of Jesus, how to be a better disciple, how to grow as a disciple, how to make a disciple—evidence that I have been searching for the magical “missing” key that will somehow unlock everything I need to know about following Jesus…

“Then they asked Him, ‘What are we to do, so that we may habitually be doing the works of God?’

Jesus answered, ‘This is the work of God:

that you believe, adhere to, trust in, rely on, and have faith in the One whom He has sent.”

—John 6:28-29, Amplified

…The Gospels tell an age-old story of mankind either trying to over-complicate things or figure everything out with their intellect—looking for the "missing" key that will somehow unlock everything—and Jesus’ response, over and over again, is simply “believe who I Am, watch what I do, then go and do likewise.”

Go live the simple Gospel.

Simple, maybe, but also challenging—because Jesus’ words rub up against sensibilities, common sense and stubborn self-will. And yet over and over again, it has been the people who have walked out this simple yet not simplistic lifestyle before me who have influenced me more than any book or study. These simple Gospel disciples have made my heart burn within as it did with the two disciples on the Emmaus road, almost as if all within me was sensing, “here is the missing key—a Gospel that is authentic and powerful and real and practical yet entirely supernatural.”

I was reminded of such an example this week while coming across notes from a Bible study on discipleship that was exceptionally challenging to me, not in its purpose but in its approach. I felt like I was oil in water, and I wanted to walk away. But the leader never said “what’s the matter with you, don’t you get it?!” but rather came alongside in my struggle with encouragement and patience and helpfulness. “How can you and I together apply this to how you are built, the way God made you to learn?”

I really don’t remember a lot about what I got out of that discipleship study, but I came away with a lasting impression of the leader: if that’s what a disciple of Jesus looks like, I want in.

And in these complicated, confusing, information-overload times, I especially find myself being drawn again and again to that kind of following-Jesus-simply beyond Sunday morning.

One that looks like not feeling like you have to change the world by yourself but instead remembering Jesus’ exhortation to simply be salt and light, seasoning it wherever you go.

One that, like Jesus, looks like simply and always making time—and finding it is never a waste—for what and who is really important, even if just a moment, a few passing words or a simple deed.

One that, like Jesus touching the leper when no one else dared to, means simply laying your hand on someone in need of prayer, in spite of the Coronavirus….

“Why do we judge Jesus’ criterion for authentic discipleship irrelevant? Jesus said the world is going to recognize you as His by only one sign: The way you are with one another on the street every day. You are going to leave people feeling a little better or a little worse. You’re going to affirm them or deprive them, but there’ll be no neutral exchange. If we as a Christian community took seriously that the sign of our love for Jesus is our love for one another, I am convinced it would change the world. If not, we’re denying to the world the one witness Jesus asked for: ‘Love one another as I have loved you.’ (John 15:12).”

—Brennan Manning, “The Furious Longing of God