A Lemon

When I was a young child, I remember my grandfather always trying his hand at new things. Not necessarily learning new skills, but rather, finding new ways to, “make a buck.”

“Ken! Why is there a big yellow van in the drive way?!,” my grandmother questioned.

“JUST TRYING TO MAKE A BUCK!,” he bellowed back…he always bellowed.

“How much did this ‘buck’ cost us?”

“IT WILL PAY FOR ITSELF!”

He was frequently purchasing items at auctions and garage sales and turning around to sell them for a prophet…sometimes.  If he had lived in the Social Media era, think of what he could have done with a Facebook account…probably nothing good…

At one point he invested in a vacant building on the East side of Wadena, Minnesota and opened up his own antique shop.  I am not sure if this broadened his ability to “make a buck,” or simply sent him in a great need to make some bucks as he continued to buy antiques and knickknacks to place in his shop.   He purchased a wide variety of items including old phonographs, baker’s cabinets, antique desks and decorative vases.  I remember one of the more unique “vases” he brought home from an auction.

“Oh what a unique vase!,” my grandmother cooed.

“YEP, JUST NEEDS A LITTLE CLEAN UP, TO GET THE BLACK BURNED CHAR MARKS OFF OF IT!”

“Mom, that’s not a vase,” stated my visiting uncle while holding back a half smirk…”It’s a bong!”

Since cannabis was not yet legal in Minnesota in the late 80’s and early 90’s that little treasure never made it into his Why Not Stop In Antiques shop.  Yes…he named it himself.

To haul all of these wonderful treasures he invested in the previously mentioned large yellow cargo van.  The van gave him nothing but trouble from day one.

I still remember him bellowing through the blue tobacco smoked air of the dining room, “ROSE! IT LOOKS LIKE I BOUGHT A LEMON!!”

My grandmother had a way of just ignoring him and continued to provide us fresh baked cookies in the kitchen while he ate his own smoke flavored marshmallow crèmes while chain smoking his marlboro’s

“I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN WHEN THE SOLD IT TO ME!” he continued when my grandmother didn’t acknowledge him, “THE DASH LOOKS LIKE THE LAS VEGAS STRIP! EVERY LIGHT IS ON IMAGINABLE!!”

We all have times of regret.  Sometimes we call it buyer’s remorse, like when we buy a “lemon” or a bong that we can’t sell and will only lose money on.  Other times we experience it when we don’t execute a task like we knew we could have or should have. Still other times, like yesterday, when you put off replacing the brakes, only to find that before you get to the State Track and Field Meet, they are grinding like a locomotive stopping for a cow stuck on the tracks.

In Matthew 24:29-31, Jesus continues to provide signs of his coming.  He also begins to reveal the regret and mourning that will be experienced from those who do not put their faith in Him.

May we come to find ourselves NOT regretting.  Rather, let us put our faith in Jesus today.

 Packing

It has been just over a year since our daughter moved 1,200 miles south to Georgia.  I still remember the preparations for that day.  I spent weeks getting myself ready for the move and I wasn’t even going to be one of the travelers.   Each day I would wake early and immediately begin my packing training.  I would open up my old laptop and launch the vintage Tetris app and begin stacking blocks, section by section, faster and faster.  After these weeks of grueling workouts the day before her departure arrived. I took my position before the 2008 Ford Fusion, I cracked my neck and commanded, “Bring me the luggage!”

With the ear-worming Tetris theme music rolling between my ears, I twisted and shifted the boxes, suitcases and hair dryers to fill all possible spaces. Once finished, I sat down with my wife to begin stage two of the preparations.

Sarah and I laid out the maps of each state that would be traversed before us.  With highlighter in hand, we plotted and traced every road which would be taken. I quizzed her on the route, including where she and our daughter would be spending their night in Louisville, KY. 

Once all of the prep work was completed, I loaded to two most precious packages into the ruby red sedan, my wife and our first born child. 

At this point these two women pulled out of the drive way to endeavor the 21 plus hour journey across the country.

I am reminded of their journey as I read Matthew 24:15-29.  Here Jesus delivers a number of clues that he wants us to be made aware of on our life journeys.  He does not give us every detail.  Even as my wife and daughter knew the clear route that they were to take, they were not aware of the obstacles that they would face in the form of torrential rains, road construction and unexpected detours.  Yet, they knew what they needed to know. 

Jesus does not give us all of the details, but he does reveal clearly of what we are to expect.  We are to expect challenges and an eternal hope for those who trust him in this journey.

May we come to find comfort in the journey that lay ahead, keeping our eye on the eternal hope and not on the unknown details.

 Motivation

 

There are some moments where I struggle to find motivation…and there are other moments where motivation seems to run in my veins.  In fact, even within the span of a few hours the dynamics of motivation can change.  This is not a new phenomenon.  Even as a child the degrees of my motivation would ebb and flow like the tides.

“Ryan! Clean up your toys in the living room!” My mother snipped.

“But I’m still going to play with them!” I retorted. 

“They have been laying there for three days!”

“That’s ‘cuz GI Joe is currently a prisoner of war in Siberia and he hasn’t found a way to escape yet!”

“I am pretty sure if he doesn’t find a way out of his cell now, he is going to find himself drawn upward into the nether regions of Hoover’s Wind Tunnel!”

“I’ll do it in a little bit, I’m picking up the chocolate chips I spilled all over the kitchen floor.”

WWWHHHIIIIIIIIIRRRRRRR!!!!

“No! Mom wait! I’ll pick it up!”

Fear is certainly a powerful motivator.  We are motivated out of fear of discipline, fear of loss of acceptance, fear of retaliation, fear of letting others down, fear of getting fired, fear of failure and many other facets.  As strongly as fear can motivate us, I have become convinced that love is an even more powerful motivator.  

Now when my mom calls me up to come over and lift something heavy or shingle a roof, I don’t say “yes” out of fear of her vacuuming up GI Joe, I say “sure…I’ll send your grandson Isaac right over.”

I was struck this week when I was reading Matthew 24:14, and Matthew 28:18-20. Here we find what is known as the “Great Commission.”  It is the moment that Jesus gives the instructions to the church as to what our overriding role is to be.  We can certainly receive this as a command, since Jesus himself is laying the burden to believers to fulfill this obligation. 

As I contemplate, I consider the question, “what makes me choose to obey this instruction”?  Is it solely that I am looking for Jesus’ approval? Certainly, I want Jesus’ approval, but honestly, that is not what connects with the deepest part of my soul.  Is it fear of consequences from God? If I am honest, there is part of me that wrestles with that.  My conclusion is that the great compelling for the commission comes from the deep love that God has for us and effectively our love for Him as found in 1 John 4:10, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” When I begin to see all that Jesus has done for me, I want to do all that he asks me to do for Him.

May we come to be compelled to share the abundant love of God to others because of his abundant love for us!

 Birth Pains

I am the father of four wonderful children; therefore I know firsthand what kind of pain is entailed with labor.  Despite what you are thinking in relation to my gender, I can assure you that labor pains feel exactly like someone is ripping the flesh of your arms off with long pointy fingernails while screaming violently into your ear.   Sounds awful, am I right?  I can assure you…it is!

My poor wife has had the paradoxical blessing of long labors, some lasting as long as 31 hours.  Do you have any idea how hard it is to sleep when your wife is in pain with contractions? Just when you start to nod off, a contraction would hit and either the verbal agonizing of my wife or her claws into my arm would wake me right up. 

I remember when we went into the hospital to birth our first child.  We arrived at 11:00 a.m. for the scheduled induction.  My wife was harnessed onto the gurney and given an IV for the Pitocin to begin to force the labor.  Our birthing classes demonstrated how surreal of an experience childbirth can be.  We expected to be able to go for calming walks, sit in rocking chairs or bounce on an exercise ball.  None of this was an option as my wife had an IV tower strapped to her arm and an armed nurse standing guard with a clipboard and a sedative. 

The initial excitement felt at 11:00 a.m., began to wane after about the 6^th hour, and more so, after the 7^th…the 8^th…the 9^th…the 10^th…the 22^nd…and the 28^th.  The laboring and contractions just kept coming with seemingly no effect.  Finally after well more than 24 hours of contractions, back massages and vending machine hamburgers, the doctor finally told us that she thought it was time to start pushing that baby out.  Sarah pushed for an hour and then finally…nothing.  She pushed for two hours…nothing.  After Sarah had pushed for 3 yours, the culmination of hope arrived.  Our daughter Hannah was born and all of my pain was worth it…the wounds on my arms eventually healed but my hearing has never been the same since.

We would go on to deliver 3 more children.  Since that first experience we learned what to expect thereafter, and each time we were not disappointed.  Long painful deliveries followed by the culmination of hope resting in our arms. 

Jesus speaks of birth pains in Matthew 24:1-14.  In this context however, he is not referring to the arrival of a new baby, but rather the arrival of the end of the age and the coming of the King.  Here Jesus reveals a challenging list of hardships, but encourages his followers to understand and remember that these are just the beginning.  A baby cannot arrive without the painful contractions that precede it. Likewise, many things must precede the second coming of Jesus and the return of the King.

May we come to understand that the sufferings we see today are just the birth pains that precede the great reward of the return of our King!

 Hens

Mothers are really quite extraordinary. Most mothers seem to have a combination of super powers akin to those evidenced by members of both, the Justice League and the Marvel Universe.  For example, my own mother seemed to have the incredible ability to draw the truth out of her children much like the works of Wonder Woman’s Lasso of Truth.

“Ryan! Did you eat all of your supper?”

“I sure did! Why would you ask that? Those potatoes hidden under my plate must have just fallen there by themselves.  I didn’t put them there…OK! You got me! I did put them there! I pushed them off my plate and then mashed my plate on top to hide them, so that you would think that I ate all of my supper!...Can I still have a cookie?”

“No.”

The difference was that my mother’s Lasso of Truth was also invisible.

Additionally, my mother also seemed to have the powers of super speed, super strength, super flexibility, super reflexes and super hearing.

“Hmm. What do you suppose Ryan is doing?”

“I don’t know, why do you ask?” Dad responds.

“I think I hear something.”

“What do you hear? I don’t hear anything.”

“Exactly! Ryan! Get down from that stool in the kitchen and don’t steel any cookies! I put the cookie jar on the refrigerator for a reason!”

“How did you know that I was trying to sneak a cookie?”

“I could hear you thinking!”

Mothers have exceptional hearts, which seem to feel and love and empathize on a deeper level than most.  When a child is hurt, that child longs to be comforted in the arms of the only ones who can seemingly make the hurt go away with a word or a kiss…a mother.  Mothers care and they protect and they sooth the souls of the ones whose paths they cross. 

There is an incredible contrast found in Matthew 23:13-39.  Here Jesus refutes the actions of the religious leaders.  Seven times he offers up woes to their behaviors and actions and attitudes.  Jesus points to them as examples that should NOT be followed.  After these seven accusations, Jesus turns the table and reveals his own deep, loving and even motherly care for people.  He speaks of his longing to gather the people as a hen would gather her chicks.

May we come to care and to love and to lead as Jesus does…and perhaps as our mothers have as well.

 Impressed

The truth of life is that there is always going to be someone better than you.  Earlier this week I watched the 149lb NCAA wrestling champion from Stanford, Aden Valencia, lose to a 19 year who has not yet graduated from high school.  I am impressed.

Additionally, I recently watched Gout Gout, (that is not a typo) an 18 year old Australian sprinter beat Usian Bolt’s U18 record time in the 100m dash. Just when you think there could never be anyone faster…maybe there is! I am impressed.

When I was in elementary school, I too would show off my incredible talents and abilities.  I would race other kids at recess.  Though I would win many of the races, I would often find myself losing to a kid named Kris.  The kid was fast…in fact, “she” was faster than most of the 3^rd grade.  I was impressed…perhaps more with her cute nose than her penultimate speed.

I flexed my value in other ways as well, in attempt to impress the 3^rd grade girls.  I would use my excessive flexibility to wrap my arms around my head so that the entireties of my arms were behind my back and not at all visible from the front.  I would then run around the playground crying out like an armless fool until my “unfriend” Mike would stick out his foot and trip me.  This proved particularly detrimental as I, having no hands in front of me to catch my decent, would smack down face first into the pea gravel.  Strangely, my goal of making the girls laugh was accomplished...sadly for the wrong reason.  I do not think that they were impressed.

I remember my young children crying out for my attention. “Dad look!” cried my 6 year old daughter who had just colored a beautiful picture of Cinderella. I was impressed. “Dad look at mine too!,” squealed my 3 year old daughter who displayed a nearly as lovely interpretation of Sleeping Beauty. I was impressed. “Dabba dook,” my 1 and a half year old daughter warbled as she showed me her accomplished massacre of streaking color across the face of a not so charming looking prince. I was impressed that she could make Prince Charming look so undesirable. “Dad look at me!” said my gleeful 4 and a half year old son as he sent sharp fishing hooks, flying from his superman rod, (inside the house), right into the soft new comforter in his bed where the hooks bit deeply into the fabric.  I was not impressed.  I realized that the kids certainly had a way of grabbing my attention as I was cutting the treble hook from my son’s bedding.

It is the pattern of life.  In some ways we are all seeking to grab the attention of others, attempting to impress those around us.  I know it is normal …but I think that there is also something that is better. What would it look like to be able to grab people’s attention and direct it toward God…that they would be impressed with God?

I think that is the message of Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 23:1-12.  Here we find both cautionary and encouraging words as to how we ought to live for Christ. 

May the world be impressed with Jesus through our transformed lives.

Put Some Pants On!

Life is complicated; the endless array of choices and opportunities for decisions is relentless.  Why just the other day I had to decide whether to eat a ham or tuna sandwich for lunch, oatmeal or eggs for breakfast and ice cream or a cookie for supper.  In my earlier years of life I would have said yes to all of it, but now after more than half a century of life, my metabolism as well as my gastric system are not what they used to be. 

It is not just about food; the complications in life carry over into all aspects of living.  For example, getting dressed is also complicated.  Not only must I choose whether to sit down to put on my socks or take the risk of standing and hopping on one foot hoping that today is not my last day of living should I fall and hit my head on the coffee table, but I must also choose what clothes to wear. 

This may not seem like such a big deal, but it is when your wife is demanding that your young children wear pants, boots, coats, hats and mittens to go out into the frozen tundra of a Minnesota winter and you walk out wearing shorts and a long sleeve t shirt. 

“How can I ask the kids to wear warm clothes outside when you don’t?”

“I will tell them.”

“What are you going to say?”

“Simple…two things. One, Listen to your mother! And two, do as I say don’t do as I do!”

Sadly, this hasn’t been the only time when my words and actions haven’t lined up.  In fact, my complicated life has revealed over and over again my areas of shortcomings. 

I have come to believe that my children and people broadly, learn more from observation than instruction.  In other words, when my children see what I do, they are much more likely to do likewise, rather than if I just instruct them to do so. 

If I had valued wearing pants in the winter…who knows…perhaps my children would have valued it as well. When I come to them and admit of my shortcomings and ask for their forgiveness, I hope that they too will value truth and authenticity. 

Jesus speaks of this in Matthew 23:1-12.  Here, Jesus reveals how the religious leaders spoke many good and true things to the people, yet they did not practice what they preached. 

May we come to hear what Jesus says…and put it into practice, so that people will be drawn to Him and His truth.