Clay in the Hands

We have completed day two of our local sports camp.  Our attendance was much better last night.  We played baseball with the kids and everyone had a great time.  There was one little girl who was there last night who reminded me of why God calls us to reach out.  She had been at the camp the first night as well and was very shy and did not want to participate much but was content to sit and watch.

Last night she came out of her shell and swung that bat with the best of them.  She was all smiles.  As we drew the evening to a close, we were saying our goodbye’s to all the kids and I watched this little girl, who the night before would not participate, go from adult to adult and give each one a big hug.  She didn’t miss an adult.

Somewhere through the process of games, and stories and smiles and encouragement, this little girl had begun to feel loved and accepted and she responded.  Now that is what God’s love looks like!  That is a visible picture of God’s plan in action.

That’s why we are called to show God’s love to those around us –  to give of ourselves. That is where we find real joy!

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Are you any good at waiting?  I hate waiting.  I don’t like long lines at the grocery store or at Six Flags.  I don’t like red lights and I despise the waiting room at the doctor’s office (appropriately named).  If I have to go to the doctor, I always take a week’s supply of reading and work with me so that I can use the time productively.

If you are like me, you aren’t crazy about waiting.  But I read a good book a few months ago that I still go back to occasionally when I get frustrated with waiting.  The book is titled, Deep-Rooted in Christ – The Way of Transformation, and it is written by Joshua Choonmin Kang.  In this book, Kang uses Moses as his example of what God does while we wait.  

I am in the midst of the desert in many respects, waiting for God’s plan to be revealed and at times, I confess, I get very impatient.  But the quote that I go back to from time to time from Kang is this: “In the school of waiting, servants of God behave differently than others do.  Some are tempted to complain about time wasted, but they resist; instead they use their time to pray and plan and fuel their dreams for the future.  And God is at work while they are waiting.”

I find this is not easy to do, but a good reminder from time to time.  You may not find yourself in this situation now, but most assuredly you will sometime in the future.  If you find yourself in a time of waiting right now, take heart.  God is at work – your job is to stay focused on the call God has given you.  

Easier said than done but hang in there.

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I was only at youth camp for one evening before returning home, so I am sure there will be better things to report but this was one of those moments that is most likely more funny to me than you might find it – but here goes.  The schedule included “Late Night” each night at 9:30.  Monday night the agenda was square dancing.

A real live square dance caller was brought in to make it a real experience.  So here is the scene:  300 middle school and high school students, excited to be at camp on the first night – boys trying to impress girls and girls doing the same (you know the scene) – all crammed into a long narrow room 35 feet wide and 100 feet long.  It was chaos.  The caller, a tall, thin man in his early 100’s (ok probably really in his 70’s) was at the mic trying to get the students to follow the calls.

Finally, the frustration got to him and he yelled out through the mic, “You wanna dance or you wanna visit?”  I was just observing all of this and I lost it.  It was the funniest thing I had heard in a long time.  The sad thing was, I am not sure that many of the students heard it or even cared.  But he finally got them going in the right direction and the overall effect was that they all had a good time.

I still plan on having the man’s picture put on a T-shirt with the tag line, “You wanna dance or you wanna visit” emblazoned across the front.  But the experience has come back to me several times this week.  It got me to thinking about how often that question could be asked of me.  How often do we go to church because that is what we are “supposed” to do?  We put on a joyful face and put on aires trying to impress our peers.  But we rarely really join the dance.

As a Christian, God has a wonderful plan for each of us – one that will require everything from us but be the ride – or the dance – or our lives.  But so often we stand by and never participate.  So my question for you to ponder this weekend is this – “You wanna dance or you wanna visit?”  The choice is yours – but as for me – I wanna dance!!!

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Over the past year, I have convinced my three boys to go camping/hiking and each of the three times we have had “bad luck.”  The first time we got rained out – to the point of taking the tent down in the rain at midnight and driving 6 hours through the night to get home.  The next time we had a blow out on Easter Sunday afternoon and spent 3 extra hours trying to get to the campground.  This past weekend we left after church and headed to the Guadalupe Mountains with the idea we would backpack to the top of the tallest mountain in Texas and camp.

When we checked in at the base of the mountain, the camp sites were taken on the Guadalupe Peak hike and so we could not hike the peak but rather had to do a different hike.  My youngest, who has never been to the summit was very disappointed.  But we agreed to do the other hike.  Just as we reached the campground (just after dark) it began to rain.  As we sat in the leaky tent, the boys looked at me and asked, “Why do we not have good luck when we try to camp?”  I didn’t have an answer.

But we made it through the night and had a great time overall.   The more I have thought about it, I think it is really all about the experience.  Life is made up of thousands of these experiences.  Even though each camping trip has had its problems, I would not trade anything for the time with my boys.  

The lesson I think God is teaching me is that there is no such thing as a “perfect” camping trip, just as there is no such thing as a life free of trouble.  Life does bring challenges – not all of them pleasant.  But at the end of life, when we take the good with the not so good, maybe all that really matters is the experience that comes from living a life for God.  One of the things I hope people say at my funeral is, “He understood life as well as one can, and he experienced it to the fullest.”

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I read a joke today that began, “You May Have Grown Up in the 80’s if . . .”   I have to admit, 90% of the things the little ditty mentioned hit home directly with me.  What can I say, the 80’s were great.  I don’t know of many songs that came out in the 80’s that were not classic in their own right.

But that got me to thinking, why is it that we, by our very nature, look back and get nostalgic and romanticize how wonderful things “used to be?”  We do this when it comes to our church as well.  We remember the “good old days” and want to relive them.

When it comes to my spirituality, I am very thankful for the churches I was a part of growing up and the experiences I had in each of them.  But for me – give me fresh and new.  My prayer for each of us is that God will make everyday new and that our relationship with him will be vibrant and fresh everyday!

(But if you walk into my office, you still might hear some 80’s playing every now and then – just warning you).

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Do you ever get the feeling that God is about to do something big?  I don’t profess to be a prophet – but every once in a while, I get the sense that God is moving.  We can always see where God has been at work (provided we take the time to look) .  But it isn’t a daily occurrence , at least in my life, to actually sense God moving in a real way now.

God wants to turn things upside down – he is in that business – just look at Jesus’ life and teaching.  He came and taught us to live and what he taught did not always fall in line with the normal practice of the day.  In fact, it rarely did.  He had a knack for taking the current mindset and turning it on its head.

God wants to use this generation, this place, this people – you and me – to make a difference.  It is not going to be easy.  But God is moving and I don’t know about you, but I want to be in the big middle of it!

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