Newton's Law

Legend has it that around 1665, a man named Isaac was hit in the head by an apple and everything changed. This proved to be the catalyst that he needed to formulate his infamous laws of gravity and motion.  Since hearing this story I have perpetually placed myself in positions to replicate his sudden onslaught of wisdom and smartness.  However, all I seem to get is more lumps and bruises on my head.  It is possible that I become even less intelligent with each encounter.  My thick head has been impacted by ice, rocks, tree branches, other heads, the ground, ladders, lumber and logs.

One of Mr. Newton’s infamous laws is that when an object is moving, it will keep moving in the direction that it is moving unless something stops or changes that objects movement.  I remember experiencing the reality of this law a number of years ago as I was pedaling my bicycle on an unfamiliar single track.  I am not a great rider, I don’t take unnecessary risks but I do enjoy pedaling hard and going fast.  In this particular case, I was traveling too quickly to read and comprehend the sign ahead.  I learned after the fact that the sign read, “Jump Ahead,” Which when translated meant, “You are going to regret this if you don’t stop now. You will bleed and hurt, for the love of all that is Holy, please stop your bike now and find another way.” I really wish I had learned to be a better reader in school.

But…I didn’t read the sign…and…I didn’t stop…and I did hurt and I did bleed and I did hit my head…but…I also had an epiphany.  If I had stopped, I could have taken the time necessary to assess the situation and make a wise decision accordingly.  I was reminded of this epiphany this week, as I read Matthew 11:28-12:14.  Here we find that immediately after Jesus offers rest to those who come to him, He is confronted by religious leaders because of his disregard for the “Sabbath.”

The paradox strikes me.  Here Jesus is inviting people to rest and the religious leaders are criticizing him for not resting.  Perhaps, what the religious leaders don’t realize is that they are too busy pedaling their bikes toward the detriment of an injury promising jump to realize that they are not resting at all.  They are in fact heading in the wrong direction to their own demise.  It seems clear to me that Jesus is restoring rest.

I wonder, perhaps it is from a place of rest where we can truly know the next direction that God has for our lives.

May we come to find rest in the Rest Giver.

 What does it take?

 

As a child I was overworked.  My parents made me do practically everything around the house.  It was my job to clean my room, haul firewood into the house, feed and water the pigs, weed the garden, dry and put away the supper dishes, take out the garbage, feed the dog and anything else my parents assigned, which included just about everything.  Sure, my older brother helped…if you actually call shaking your face, day dreaming and laughing, help. 

I remember sitting at home in front of the television enjoying a well deserved break from all of my back breaking labor, while my mother was cooking up supper and my dad was shoveling 28 inches of snow off of the roof.  Just as I was finding a moment to breathe, my mother began barking orders for me to set the table while at the same time my dad burst into the house and insisted that I add more wood to the furnace.  Do you see what I mean? OVERWORKED!!

I grudgingly left my beloved Hogan’s Heroes and told my older brother that Mom wanted him to set the table and my little brother that Dad wanted him to  add wood to the furnace.  I then sat back down to watch more of Sergeant Schultz…feeling completely exhausted. 

I remember bringing this to the attention of my parents during one particularly laborious Saturday afternoon.  “Ugh…I can’t wait until I have my own kids so I can make THEM do all the work!”

These filled both of my parents with a great deal of mirth.  So much so in fact that supper was late because my mother could not stop laughing enough to get the ground burger into the pan let alone on my bun. 

I have taken the liberty of instilling this same work ethic into my own children.  They too have had to learn to do their own chores.  My children, however, have it so much easier.  For example, as opposed to having to wash and dry the dishes by hand, all they are required to do is empty “their” portion of the dishwasher.  Yet, this simple task has, at times, proven to be too laborious for my offspring.  One of my sweet laborers, who had been merely assigned to put the flatware away at the completion of each wash cycle, deemed it too extreme and defaulted to dumping the flatware into the drawer entirely unsorted, rather than neatly away as required.

After emphasizing my desired outcome, I expected the silverware drawer to look different.  Yet, day after day it looked as if an earthquake has struck the utensil drawer.  Even after expressing my exasperation and frustration…still no change. Finally, with veins protruding from my forehead I asked, “Seriously! What does it take? What does it take to get you to put knives where the knives belong…and the spoons where the spoons belong…etc!!.”

“I don’t know” She said.

“How about this!  For every fork that is out of place, you pay me $1.  For every knife…$1, and for every spoon $1!

“What!? One dollar for each! I can’t afford that!”

“Exactly! So please, take the extra time and put it away right! It will be like you are making money!”

I am please to say that to this day, our flatware drawer has never looked better!

When we encounter the portion of scripture found in Matthew 11:16-28, we find a similar question evidenced.  Jesus speaks of his works and miracles in the cities where he has been ministering and in a sense is asking the question, “What does it take? What does it take for you to believe and repent?”

What about us?  What would it take for us to believe in Jesus?  What would it take to trust him with everything?

It is a good question to ask…and an even better question to find the answer to. 

May we come to believe and trust in all that Jesus has to offer.

 Excpectations Gap

I expected to post this sooner. But then again I expected the weatherman to be wrong…or right…which he was I guess neither and both.  Before my son is slated to head off to his second semester of college tomorrow and we decided to have one last hurrah ice fishing up north.  Additionally, I expected the fishing to be decent, with crappies practically jumping out of my hole and into my bucket.

Truth be told my expectations were left unachieved.  The bite was slow and the snow forecast was not as proclaimed.  After not catching a limit of crappies, we loaded up our equipment and pointed the truck toward home. 

We encountered more snow than expected…earlier than expected…and more traffic than expected.  It was an absolute mess! What could potentially take an hour and 15 minutes, our manic drive home took nearly 3 hours. 

To top it off, I expected my truck heater to keep the windshield clear of ice and water.  No such luck. 

Life is full of expectations that are not fulfilled in the way that we anticipated.  Whether it be marriage, parenting, Vikings games or weather forecasts…our expectations are rarely fulfilled as we…well…expect.

We find that expectations of Jesus are often different from the reality that we experience.  As we know, God’s ways are not our ways.  In Matthew 11:1-19, we find that Jesus confronts this “expectations gap.”  People had expectations of who Jesus was and what he came to do, including John the Baptist. 

May we come to see the reality of who Jesus really is…not who we “want” him to be…but who he really is!

 Unfriended

I recently came to a realization and honestly, I am not sure how I feel about it.  I just became aware that I have absolutely ZERO Facebook friends. This revelation made me sad.  I believe that most people have at least one Facebook friend, but here I am…with none.  I brought this problem to the attention of my wife.

“Sarah, I don’t have any Facebook friends.”

“I know that.” She said.

“I feel sad about this.”

“Look at the bright side…since you do not have any Facebook friends, you don’t have to worry about ever being ‘unfriended.” 

“Well, don’t you feel bad for me and stuff?”

“I feel bad for you that you are concerned that you don’t have any Facebook friends.”

“Why is that?”

“Because you don’t HAVE a Facebook account.”

It is possible that part of that conversation is imaginary, yet something within me is indeed wrestling with this reality of friendship.  I remember my first experience of being “unfriended.” 

The event took place in my 1^st grade classroom and it preceded both Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg. One morning Johnny approached me and asked if I would be his friend.  I saw no problem with this so I readily agreed. 

“Sure Johnny.”

“Great! Now that we are friends, you can’t be friends with Eric anymore.”

“Huh?! Why not?”

“Because…that’s the way it is. If you want to be friends, then you can’t be friends with Eric.”

I must admit, that even in 1^st grade this seemed very Jr. High, though it would be several years before I would come to realize the irony. 

After being given no other rationale to the preposterous protocol, I went about my day, only to find Johnny had passed me a note via the hands of Lucinda.  I read the note which pronounced that I had just been unfriended by Johnny for violating rule 103b sub paragraph 3.4 stating that “Frienship with Johnny shall terminate where-in a friendly conversation is ensued toward or in relationship with Eric.”

“Huh,” I thought, and came to realize that my half day friendship with Johnny had ended before it ever really got started.

As I reflect on this past event, it is obvious that the invitation was anything but genuine.  To this day I still have no concept as to what motivated the brief, but fake friendship. But I do know this; Johnny was never interested in really being friends. It is clear that there were ulterior motives lurking among the invitation for friendship.

Likewise, our thoughts, words and actions as a follower of Christ can appear genuine on the outside, but may be far too often laced with selfish motivations.  Perhaps where these expressions generate from is the real indicator to our beliefs…after all, Jesus himself said, out of the heart the mouth speaks. 

Matthew 10:1-42, is an extensive passage, where Jesus gives instruction and reveals expectations to the 12 disciples as he sends them out.  I am struck by the concluding moment, where Jesus invites them to offer up a “cup  of cold water” to the least of ones they may meet. 

Is it really about the water?  I don’t think so.  I think it is about the heart behind the water. 

May the testimony of a cup of cold water reveal the Christ who has changed our hearts that offer it.