fair?

On our way home from our first trip to California to visit Jim's Mom, we had to sit in Burbank airport awaiting our flight to leave. Knowing that we would leave shortly, I decided to go to the Ladies room. But I got sidetracked. People just amaze me. I guess that is why I am a people watcher. You can learn so much about people by watching them. And I got sidetracked by a woman who was making quite a seen at the gate across from the bathroom.
Apparently, last call had been made for the flight, the door had been shut and gate closed, when this woman appeared with her children. She was running late. She held her shoes in her hands (from the security check) and was out of breath, indicating that she had probably run all the way to the gate with her kids from security. I knew from only minutes before that security was a nightmare and that it had taken us a half hour to process through that check point. We were so glad we arrived early.
In the graciousness of the attendant, he phoned the plane, grabbed the kids and ran them to the flight. It seems that she was not flying with the children, but was there to put them on a plane to go somewhere without her. And while the gate had been shut, the man made an exception to get the children on the plane. I observed all of this while walking to the restroom. I didn't think much about it until the attendant came back through the doors and the woman began to yell like a mad woman at the man. It was at this point, I decided that the restroom could wait and I just leaned against the wall outside the door to the Ladies room to watch the show.
In the minutes that followed, this woman began to rave about how this man had not treated her fairly. She must have said it a dozen times, so loudly that even over the airplanes, anyone in the near vicinity was aware of how she felt. She berated the man for the next five minutes, saying she was treated fairly and that she wanted to say goodbye to her kids. Best I can understand, the woman was upset because she didn't get to walk the jetway with her children and tell them goodbye. Even on a good day, when she wasn't late, she would not have gotten that privilege. No One gets through the gate without a boarding pass. But she was insistent that she had not been treated fairly.
I began to laugh. Here is a woman who was late to the airport-for whatever reason, she did not have a boarding pass to get through the gate and yet, she seemed to think that SHE was the one who was not treated fairly. It was not the attendants fault that she was late, nor that she did not have a boarding pass. In fact, he had gone out of his way to be sure the kids got on the plane, even thought the gate had been shut. It was at this point, the attendant called security.
I quickly slipped into the restroom and when I returned to my spot on the wall, found the woman in the custody of two armed security guards, while one additional guard spoke with the attendant. It only took a few minutes for the guards to explain that whether she thought she was treated fairly or not was not the issue, but that she could not speak to the attendant nor make the scene that she was making in the airport. It was at this point that I decided the excitement was over and I returned to find Jim at the gate where we were to depart.
As I sat contemplating the scene I had watched, I was amazed that this woman thought she had been treated unfairly. What a crazy thought. She was late, exceptions had been made for her and her kids got exactly what they needed-to be on the plane. But instead, she was insisting that she was not treated fairly. It only took a few seconds for the Lord to prick my heart and to say "isn't that how so many treat me." I stopped dead in my 'thoughts' and backed up. How many times do WE say to God-You aren't treating me fairly. Well, maybe we don't say it...or even think it, but we do feel it. We think we DESERVE things when we don't. We feel like God owes us things that we He doesn't. We are at fault. We mess up. We sin. Exceptions are made. Grace is given. Mercy is offered. And we still look at God as if to say, you didn't treat me fairly.
Okay, some of you might be thinking...NOT ME. But have you ever thought:
-I am a good person. I do what is right. Why is it always so hard? Give me a break.
-I obey your commands. I go to church every week. I even teach Sunday School. But it never seems to pay off?
-I tried to raise my kids right. I took my family to church. We even had devotions. So why did things turn out this way?
-I gave money in the plate. I always helped others. So why are my finances to tight?
-I prayed for help. I depended and trusted you to bring healing. But you didn't. Why should I worship a God that won't help me out.
-Why would a loving God let this happen to me? (so you deserve better? you didn't get hell...that should be enough!)

I could go on...but you get the point. We all do it. We all stand at the gate and though mercy and grace has been offered, we look at God and say "you haven't treated me fairly. You owe me more!"
When will we ever realize that God owes us nothing. He doesn't even owe us breath. In fact, we deserve to NOT breathe. We deserve nothing. Fair...you want to talk about God being fair. If we really wanted fair...then we would get what we deserve, which is hell, total separation from Him. We are traitors. We are unfaithful, disobedient, stiff necked, strong willed children that incessantly insist having our own way. And yet, He gives us grace. He gave His Son to pay a debt He didn't owe. He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing and equipped us for everything pertaining to life and godliness. And yet, we think He owes us MORE because we go to church or TRY to live right. We think that we deserve more because we TRIED with the HIS children or gave some of HIS money back. We think that because we are trying hard that He should give more.
What a crazy thought. But it is how we think. He has not treated us fairly. But I am not sure FAIR is what we want. I want grace, not what is fair. If I get what is fair...I don't think I will be very happy.
You can learn a lot leaning against a wall and watching people. And in those moments, it is when God speaks and pierces our hearts to remind us His grace. We can scream about how unfair life is all day long, but the truth is....we got more than we deserve. ALL FOR YOU

surf school for disciples

While we were in California, we took a morning to drive down to Newport beach and let the boys swim in the Pacific ocean. The beaches there are much different from what we are used to on the East Coast. They are wide and deep and filled with Baywatch lifeguards and lifeguard stands. This particular beach was one Jim used to hang out at when he was kid and so with the visit came memories of the past.
We arrived at the beach with only ourselves and our towels. Jim has this hang up about looking like tourists and carrying tons of stuff to the beach. So, we simply parked our car, picked up our towels and walked the 100 yards of sand to the ocean. The boys ran and played, enjoying the surf. While Jim, Drew and I watched the surfers that were shredding the surf as if it were cotton they were surfing instead of waves. I sat on the beach and took pictures and enjoyed the scene of my children, my husband and the surf.
That is until something else caught my eye. And NO it was not a Lifeguard. (lol) It was these groups of children in wetsuits. Some as small as 4, others as old as 15, but they all were doing different activities-TOGETHER. I am all about the TOGETHER right now, so I was intrigued. I love to people watch and discovered after a few minutes that surf camp was going on and we had parked ourselves in the middle of the beach where kids were learning how to surf. Enthralled and interested in how and what they were teaching these children, I began to watch as they did differing activities to train their reflexes and teach them the skills they will need to know to be able to stand on a surf board, while at the same time, watching the myriad of people surfing. You had the experienced surfers, riding the waves and the inexperienced, learning through training.
After about an hour or so of watching the kids in their activities, I began to see a group that had surfboards, heading out into the water. They were on long boards and there was an instructor with each child. It was so amazing to watch as the instructor would walk the child through EVERY step of what it was going to look and feel like. He didn't just tell him how to do it, but was out in the water, showing him how to paddle past the waves. And then he turned the child around, held onto the back of the child's board (they were only waste deep) and he would help the child stand while the wave was coming and then gently let go and let him ride the board in to the shore. Some would fall, some would make it. But I was not intrigued by the children. I was struck by the instructor and what a cool picture of disciple making that was.
You see, the instructor didn't just teach, speak or tell the pupils. He didn't just stand on the shore and shout instructions. He got wet. He stood right beside the student. He literally walked with him through every step of the process and as a result, surfers were being produced.
I sat on the beach and thought to myself-that is what I am supposed to do. That is what the church is supposed to do. That is what Jesus commanded us to do. Make Disciples. Jesus came to make disciples and He didn't do it by yelling instruction from heaven. He came in the form of a man and walked with those men-every step, showing them how to live, how to make disciples, how to sacrifice, serve, love and obey. Because the best disciple maker is one that gets wet. Or gets dirty. Or gets involved...of just gets in. The best disciple maker is the one who is willing to sacrifice their comfort to journey into the water and help the student learn every step of the process so that nothing is missed, no shortcuts are taken and no mistakes become habit.
I think I had church that morning. God spoke through a surf school to my heart and reminded me that what we want to produce are those who shred the waves-learned disciples. But the way to do that is to walk out the process-every step with those whom the Lord has given you to teach, so that we don't reproduce badly-but those who can ride the waves. The best disciple makers.....GET WET!ALL FOR YOU

are we falling

I am sitting in the Chicago airport having just arrived from Greenville. We are traveling with all three boys and it has been quite an adventure already. There are terrible storms in Washington, tons of flights were cancelled and rerouted. Therefore, the airports are crazy. We didn’t have seats together, so we are in the process of having our seats reassigned. And the boys are going crazy. I have just given them Dramamine, in hopes that they will sleep the rest of the way.
The flight from Greenville was somewhat interesting. The stewardess was quite the comedian, making jokes about how for those of us that have not been in a car since 1957, we will need to know how to work a seat belt. We had seats in the very back, which was perfect for the boys. They were excited about the adventure. The first half of the trip was a bit uneventful, as they settled in to watching movies and having snacks. That is until we hit a little turbulence.
For me….well, I don’t like turbulence. I don’t like roller coasters and I don’t like planes that drop or bump in the air. But Micah, that is a different story. He loves it. He thought it was cool. He immediately started screaming…WEEEEE and then looked at me and asked “are we falling?” To which I answered, “I hope not!”
We were passing through clouds and we couldn’t see how far up or down we were. Things were bumping around and I found myself grabbing the seat in front of me, which Jim was seated in. But Micah, was cracking up laughing and enjoying the ride. Every time we would drop, he would laugh and ask me again if we were falling. I didn’t think it was so funny. But, he did.
I was thinking about the reason why it didn’t bother him. It might be because he has a bigger sense of adventure than I do. It might be that he is going to be a roller coaster lover and I am not. It might be that he loved the risk and the feeling of his stomach in his throat. But I kinda think that it might be because he wasn’t thinking about the danger and he trusted the pilot.
Micah was not thinking about the danger involved in “falling” out of the sky. He was excited about the ride. He was excited about the adventure and the bumps along the way didn’t bother him. He wasn’t concerned that he couldn’t see what was ahead. He trusted the pilot and didn’t think that the pilot was really going to let us fall out of the sky, even when it FELT like it.
Maybe we need to embrace some “Micah thinking”. Maybe, we need to be excited about the journey God has on us, despite the bumps along the way that might make us think that we are falling. We may not like the feeling of falling, but we can get over that when we trust the pilot that is in charge. When we trust the Father so completely that even when we FEEL like we are falling, we can rest in the truth that no matter what we FEEL we know the reality is that we are just on a bumpy journey and we will arrive safely at our destination.
So, Micah has just proven one of my life’s motto’s. LIFE IS A JOURNEY, ENJOY THE RIDE….even if it is bumpy or feels like we are falling. Trust the Father…
ALL FOR YOU