We drove slowly across the dark parking lot behind the closed Texaco station. Suddenly, three or four Dallas Police cars sped toward us with bright headlights, overhead lights on, and the glare of their spotlights focused on our car. The three of us in the car, all about 20 years old, had just gotten out of Wednesday night Bible class. We were cutting through the parking lot on our way to a fast-food place to eat. Apparently, the police had been waiting in the darkness for someone whom they suspected might rob this Texaco station. At that moment, they thought it might be us. Regardless, they had my attention!
Sometimes life is full of surprises. At other times, it may be filled with the ordinary. Regardless, we are in need of the Lord’s strength and grace to navigate through it all. Hopefully the following is helpful.
The List of Five
One of the Best Gifts - Your Friendship
I met John years ago when I preached in Florence, Alabama. He would often come to church on Sunday evenings by himself. John was in his late 40s, a short man with closely cropped red hair and a ruddy complexion. He had a great smile. On these Sunday evenings, he would often say something kind to me about the sermon.
John was a high school basketball referee. We would frequently talk about some of the recent games he had officiated.
Then he seemed to almost vanish.
He was gone for months. I didn’t have his phone number, but I finally located his address. Late one afternoon, I stopped by his house. He answered the door and greeted me with that same familiar smile.
He nervously said, “I’ve been in jail. I hope you don’t think I’m a bad person. I wrote some hot checks - again.”
I was a young minister in my mid-twenties. I didn’t understand why John seemed to be stuck in an endless cycle of writing bad checks and then going to jail. I never gave him money and certainly didn’t want to enable him. Yet, neither did I want to abandon him.
A few months later, I visited with him again, this time at the Lauderdale County Jail. He was in a large area with a number of other prisoners. I was on the other side of the bars in an area where we could talk. He came near to where I was standing and said, “Well Jim, I did it again.”
I really felt for John. At the time, I didn’t know what to say and certainly didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know what to say about God. I was young and inexperienced. However, I knew he needed a friend.
It has been many years since I last saw John. Yet, I learned so much during that period of time. One of the best things I learned was the value of simply being a friend to someone in trouble.
During the holidays, you and I may see relatives and acquaintances we haven’t see in quite sometime. You may learn of someone’s job loss, a person’s battle with cancer, or a distant relative’s painful divorce. You may not know what to say or do.
Yet, one of the greatest gifts you and I could give to another is our friendship. Perhaps the following might make a difference:
I could follow up a conversation by simply showing interest regarding something the person mentioned such as a job interview or a medical issue.
I could send a text or a note acknowledging the conversation we had after lunch that day and communicate that I have been praying for that person (assuming this to be true).
I could do something that might be practical and helpful to another. Showing a genuine interest and paying attention to another really matters.
Regardless of how I might follow up, behaving as a friend can be very significant to someone. This may just be one of the most significant ways that God might work through you and me.
Moments that Made Me Cringe
I have said and done some of the dumbest things! I’m not talking about anything immoral, illegal, or unethical. Rather, this falls under the category of dumb!
I was a young minister and was teaching a Bible class at church. That morning the class met in a room with shiny, newly waxed, linoleum floors. About 35 people were seated in standard metal folding chairs in a very large circle. At one point, I stood, turned my chair around, and leaned on the back of the chair as I taught. Suddenly, this chair, on this slippery waxed floor, slid out from under me. I landed flat on my back, staring at the ceiling. I could hear an explosion of laughter. Finally, I got up, sat in the chair and laughed with everyone else. Good grief!
On another occasion, I was a guest preacher for a small church in west Texas. As I walked through their building on Saturday, I noticed there was no water in the baptistry. It had apparently been a long time since it had been filled. I was a young self-assured minister, far too certain about many of my opinions. I made some kind flippant remark about a church that didn’t even have water in its baptistry!
So—hours later, some of the church members began to fill it up. They let water run into that baptistry through much of the night.
I preached on Sunday morning. On Sunday evening, people came from several nearby churches. The congregation planned to host a pot luck dinner for everyone after the service. This would take place in their fellowship room, located just below the auditorium.
As I was preaching that evening, I suddenly heard a loud gurgling sound in the baptistry behind me. I didn’t turn around to look but did see some of the local people rush down the stairs to the room below. The bottom of the baptistry had split and water was rushing into the fellowship room, where the meal was to be served.
Later, I cringed as I thought about how these sweet people tried to be accommodating after my earlier remark.
These stories remind me to not take myself too seriously. No matter who we are, we remain human. Our worthiness and value are gifts from God, not determined by how well we perform throughout life. For most of us, we will probably have some silly moments. Yet, our identity is in God and our competency is found in him.
Beautiful Commitment
In a culture that doesn’t seem to value commitments, it might be worthwhile to remember an article that Lewis Smedes wrote decades ago entitled “Controlling the Unpredictable: The Power of Promising” in Christianity Today, December 1, 2002 (originally written January 21, 1983).
Smedes wrote:
When you make a promise, you tie yourself to other persons by unseen fibers of loyalty. You agree to stick with people you are stuck with. When everything else tells them they can count on nothing, they can count on you. When they do not have the faintest notion of what in the world is going on around them, they will know that you are going to be there with them. You have created a small sanctuary of trust within the jungle of unpredictability: you have made a promise you intend to keep.
What might bless and encourage another:
To be a friend who keeps his/her promise to another.
To be a married person who keeps his promise, even when no one else is looking.
To be a business person who honors a promise to employees, vendors, or customers.
Not only does such promise keeping bless another but we become more like God. We are not ruled by our emotions or our fleshly desires. Rather, we keep our promises, to God and to one another. Again, Smedes wrote:
“. . . a promise, then, is the human essence of freedom after the style of God - it is your freedom to be there with someone even though you cannot tell what ‘being there’ is going to be like for you.”
Ending 2021 and Beginning 2022
I write this encouragement note every other week. Today, I am thinking about how helpful it can be to intentionally look for moments of joy, particularly as we close out the year.
The last few years have been difficult for so many of us as we attempted to navigate life in this pandemic. Many of us may feel tired and exhausted. Yet, it may be more important than ever that we choose to look for the moments of joy in our lives. Some of these may seem small - even insignificant. However, focusing on such joy can be an important part of our resilience.
What might some of these be for you this year?
Was there a moment of joy that you experienced with a friend?
Was there a moment of joy that you shared with your spouse, your child, or your grandchild?
Was there a moment of joy that you experienced as you walked through a park or witnessed a magnificent sunrise?
Even in hard times, the Father continues to give his good gifts. With this perspective, we can consider how to be intentional as we begin the New Year.
You might consider Gordon MacDonald’s work, Ordering Your Private World, written in the 1980s. The book has been around for awhile, but it still offers much. MacDonald suggests that there are five sectors that need attention if we are going to have a healthy interior life:
Sector One: Motivation
Sector Two: Use of Time
Sector Three: Wisdom and Knowledge
Sector Four: Spiritual Strength
Sector Five: Restoration
I find this helpful as I consider the attention I need to give particular areas of my life for this coming year.
May my interior life be a place where the rich presence of Christ can live, so that his beauty might be displayed in my life. Consider these lines from Jon Tyson, in his book, A Creative Minority, p. 13:
We need a vision that is not based on a fear of a godless future, or a longing for an idolized past, but a rich presence in our own time that inspires the beauty and possibility of Christ’s church.
Whatever you do as you approach the New Year, don’t minimize the ordinary moments. I love these lines from Brother Lawerence’s, The Practice of the Presence of God:
Life up your heart to Him during your meals and in company; the least little remembrance will always be the most pleasing to Him. One need not cry out very loudly; He is nearer to us than we think.
Take Away:
We are approaching the New Year. Jesus is Lord and our past does not define 2022.
This New Year may have a few spectacular moments but for most of us there will be plenty of ordinary moments that nevertheless are significant.
As we look to the New Year, may our presence in the world become a beautiful reflection of Jesus himself.
Resources
Diane Coutu, “How Resilience Works” in Harvard Business Review, May 2002. See this quote: “Resilience is neither ethically good nor bad. It is merely the skill and the capacity to be robust under conditions of enormous stress and change.”
Lewis B. Smedes, “Controlling the Unpredictable - The Power of Promising” in Christianity Today, December 1, 2002. (Originally appeared January 21, 1983)
I just finished a fine little book by Jon Tyson and Heather Grizzle, A Creative Minority, 2016. A short, succinct book on what the church is called to be today.
Also read Kelli B. Trujillo’s fine interview of Jon Tyson entitle “Jon Tyson: Run into the Controversy,” in Christianity Today, Fall 2020.
Each Thursday/Friday, I post about ten tweets especially for ministers and other believers as they anticipate Sunday. You can find me @jimmartin.
I serve as Vice President of Harding School of Theology, Memphis, Tennessee. You can find me at God-Hungry.org. You can find me on Facebook - @jim.martin. My e-mail address is: jmartin9669@gmail.com. Feel free to write. I would love to hear what is encouraging or helpful. — Jim Martin
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