Downright Daring Life

Olympic questions

I've been watching the Olympics, like so many other millions, and have a nagging question.  So what?

Sure it shows a lot of effort, dedication and sacrifice for the athletes but, so what?  Okay, so you can run, you can run really fast - what does that mean?  What does it change or how does it improve the world?  Then I think of the line from the movie Chariots of Fire, "God made me fast and when I run I sense His pleasure."  So, I think that, okay, it is partially about honoring your design, but still I struggle with this.

Every day there is a daily tally of how many medals each country is earning.  As if the country with the most medals wins.  Wins what?  "Our country is better then your country" sung to a nah, nah, nah, nah, nah tune? China has more golds but we all know it is a horrendous torturer of Christians and oppressor of daily life.  So the golds prove just what?

The whole thing makes me uncomfortable.  Where is the eternal value?  Is it in an individual athlete that runs to please Christ and not for the accolades or purposes of his or her country?  Is it in how it shows our petty differences and our glory of the flesh so that we can change our hearts?  Does the 100 million dollars in endorsements that Phelps is estimated to earn in endorsements for swimming really fast prove anything that will stand the test of time?  If I eat the Corn Flakes with his face on the box will it make me a better person?

I know this is cynical and politically incorrect but I can't seem to help it.  The whole world comes together and I feel that we miss the point, miss the opportunity and miss the mark.  Do we compete only to find that what we win is of no value to truly change our lives? 

Maybe, for me, it just causes  me to look into my own motivations and life and see if I am making a difference and if my goals are worthy and eternal ones.  It sure has me thinking about it and asking "So What?" about my life.

Sad at Christmas

I went to buy Christmas cards today, you know the boxed kind, and out of all the cards I found, there was only one that had the theme of Christ coming.  I have to say that I was shocked.  We have moved so far from the original meaning of Christmas that the birth of our Savior is no longer the main reason for the season.  Even Santa is irrelevant to so many this year.  What is relevant , what is the main reason? - stuff, and lots of it.

Are you as saddened as I?  I can't wait for the season to be over.  It seems so blasphemous and embarassing to me.  But then, I realize that it is causing me to my knees.  I come to Christ and all I can say is that I am so sorry.  "Please, Lord, save us.  Come.  Come to your people and bring us again to the quiet awe of God breaking into time.  Let us be humbled at the thought that we are totally lost without your intervention.  Cause us to be astonished at the God who would humble Himself to be born in the lowest of circumstances."

He walked among us, like us.  He knows the heart break of seeing us crave what will not last when He is in our midst.   Unlike us, He always sought His Father and His will and was not inticed by the stuff of the world.  He understands that we are human, frail, easily distracted from Him.  He knows us and that is why He came.  Saddened by our lostness, He came that morn to show us the way home.

Christmas opened a door home.  It opened a path to the heart of God.  It was meant to make the things of this world less enticing for He is the ultimate treasure, the reason for every season. 

I feel better now.  I think I'll tell everyone I know, even a few I don't about the awesome gift of Christmas.

 

An intersection

I've been around a group of young people lately that seem totally lost.  They don't know they are lost and they don't seem to care.  Their lives are filled with drama and crisis, arguments and fake friendships, drinking, drugs and sex.  To reach these kids would mean that I would have to be in their world continually, looking for ways to show them God's love, listening without judgment, and willing to invest my life in them but they will not allow me to get that close.

One of these young people lost his job.  He is a hard worker, has his own apartment, supports his younger brother, and still parties with the best of them.  He is not evil, just misguided and trying to survive his past.  He told me, in an unprotected moment, that he is jealous of his sister because she seems to have her life together with God and he would like that.  And the moment was gone.

I knew he had a new job but wasn't going to make his rent.  He worried about taking care of his brother.  He pawned his guitar to buy food but just told me that one does what one has to.   He  seems different than the others.  He remains optimistic that he can work hard and that things will turn out okay even as he is days away from not paying rent.

My husband and I set aside money to help wherever God may lead.  It seemed that this was the place.  We asked him if we could pay his rent this month and he cried.  We told him that the money was set aside for God to use and, so, God must care for him, want a relationship with him and has a plan for his life.   

Will this bring him to the Lord?  We don't know but I do know that we had the opportunity to show God's love and these kids desperately need to know they are loved.  They need hope and light and a vision of how life could be different.  They need Jesus.

When I am near them, my heart hurts, my spirit is saddened.  But God finds ways to reach into their world to touch their lives and was able to use us this time.  We pray that what He allowed us to do with this young man will move him closer to being able to find his true life in Christ.