A Little More Perspective

Yesterday's post raises this question: How can people who have less than nothing be overflowing with joy, yet people who have everything are always so unhappy?

God always seems bigger to those who need Him the most. And suffering is the tool He uses to help us need Him more.*

Those Africans who live in cardboard boxes or under torn and tattered sheets, who are surrounded by waste and stench too terrible for our civilized senses, who have no money for food and no arms or legs to even find food...those are the people who have a joy that manifests from deep within and shines brighter than the sun.

They have to trust God. They have no other hope.*

They literally have nothing. We, in our comfortable recliners drinking sodas and eating potato chips, have no idea what that even means.

"There's nothing to eat around here!"

"I have nothing to wear tonight!"

"There's no phone service out here!"

"They're out of the brand I like!"

What if our lives were different? What if we were born in a desolate slum somewhere instead of the Land of Plenty? What would we say then?

"I have no food to eat this week."

"I have nothing to sleep under while it rains tonight."

"My little girl doesn't have a shirt to wear."

"I don't have legs to walk on."

Can you see how those people would have no other choice but complete and utter dependence on God?

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. -Psalm 34:18

Commit your way to the LORD;
trust in Him and He will do this:
He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn,
the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. -Psalm 37:5-6

Some who suffer choose to blame God and hold a grudge. But those who recognize their need to cling to Him hour by hour share sweet intimacy with His very Spirit.

For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. -2 Corinthians 4:17

People who are stripped and laid bare before the Maker - whether physically, emotionally, or spiritually - and choose to believe His promises...those are the people who know true joy.

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*When God Weeps by Joni Eareckson Tada

A Little Perspective

An old classmate of mine had this video posted on his blog. It's an interview between Conan O'Brien and Louis C.K. Quite funny.

I laugh every time I watch this clip. It's funny, largely because what he says is so true. I might be dating myself here, but it's more likely that my family (and small hometown) was and is always behind the modern age by a few decades. I grew up with dial phones. And I found dialing zeros to be a complete inconvenience because it tripled the time you spent trying to call someone.

My mom still writes checks to herself at the bank.

Look at where we are now. Computers are almost out-dated because now we can carry around a phone that not only calls people, but texts, takes pictures, checks email, and surfs the web. We can drive through a restaraunt and have an entire meal handed to us within minutes. We can flip on the tv and watch any movie we want, or DVR it and watch it later when it's more convenient.

We are so spoiled.

We have everything that the history of humanity never even dreamed possible. And we have no idea how to appreciate it.

This clip reminds me of an experience Joni Eareckson Tada shares in her book When God Weeps. She traveled with a group to the poverty-stricken, gut-wrenching places in Africa to deliver wheelchairs and crutches to the disabled. People crawled out of the woodwork to greet these Americans and celebrate Jesus together.

People who had lost arms to disease. People whose legs were rendered useless from polio. Or, just as often, people who had lost both legs and hands.

The Africans and Americans gathered together, sang in worship, shared testimonies, and distributed wheelchairs. Sadly, there were more people than wheelchairs. Two teenage boys who had legs useless from polio did not receive anything.

They danced for joy for their friends who did receive.

A comment from a young boy who made his home in a box near a trash dump sums it up: "God has given you [westerners] so much, you have been so blessed...why are so many people in your country so unhappy?"

Just Arrived...

Remember how I said I was going to create a Prayer Wall for you to leave prayer requests? (If you don't remember, click here.)

I now have a page up and running. Nothing fancy, but I hope that you will use it. All you have to do is type your request into the comment box. I will screen them before they're posted. I have committed to praying for anything requested on at least a weekly basis. So be assured that you will be prayed for. You don't have to leave your name. If you want me to pray, but don't want to post for all to see, just make a note of that and I won't post it.

If you don't have any requests to pray for right now, go ahead and drop by anyway. See what other people have posted and take a few moments to lift them up in prayer.

There is a link called "Prayer Wall" at the top of the right-hand column, just below the picture. Or, to go there right now, click here.

Who Do I Work For?

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.... Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men... It is the Lord Christ you are serving. -Colossians 3:17, 23-24

Last week I had to drag myself through each day of work.

Then I was reminded of these verses. And this week, my perspective has changed.

Does that mean I love my job now? I like it as well now as I did before. Do I enjoy getting out of bed early each morning? Definitely not. I still call on God in the morning for my daily portion of strength to get through each hour until I clock out.

But this week I'm not driving to work just because I have no other choice or because I have to earn a paycheck.

It would be easy to leave out a few exercises and send my patient home five minutes early. I could cut some corners and put off my paperwork for another day. It would save time to fill in only the information I need to on the evaluation form.

But is that the work I want to turn in to the Lord at the end of the day?

There are souls at stake. Dozens of people pass through my life each week. Do they see Jesus in me?

I Can Carry You

Lord of the Rings is an amazing story. (I have to confess that I've only seen the movies and have never read the book. But the movies were superb.)

There's one scene in particular towards the end of the story that I think is incredible. Frodo has been hauling this little ring all over creation to destroy it. It's an evil ring, and as the journey drags on, Frodo becomes increasingly worn down by this burden. He finally reaches the last leg of his quest. He has to cross this dark, rugged, barren, dangerous mountain to get to the only fire that can destroy the ring forever. Frodo is tired. He's exhausted, weary, beaten, bruised, and alone.

Alone, except for his best friend Sam, who has refused to leave his side.

When he cannot take another step, Frodo collapses in a heap. Take a look to see what happens next*:

Frodo has become utterly lost in the darkness of his burden. It has closed in around him, choking the very life from his body. All he can feel is hopelessness and despair.

But Sam does a beautiful thing. He shares the burden. He knows he can't make it go away. There isn't a thing he can do to ease Frodo's suffering.

But he can carry his friend.

What a beautiful picture of bearing one anothers' burdens. Some people are carrying burdens so heavy and dark that their very lives are being smothered. They can no longer move forward, and there is no way out. All they see is the darkness surrounding them, and all they feel is hopelessness and despair.

But we can carry them.

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*I apologize for the bilingual subtitles. It was the only clip I could find.