My husband Kevin and I went to watch our friends’ sons play a soccer game. At the end of the match, I went up to one of the teenagers and congratulated him. He asked me why, so I confidently told him, “Because you won the game.”
His response shocked me, “Ms. Shannon, we lost.” As a competitor it would already be difficult to lose a game, however, my comment only made the matter much worse. Evidently, I was the only person in that crowd who did not know about the team’s loss. Unfortunately, my husband could not rescue me in time before I made my blunder. Kevin saw the opponent’s goals because he paid attention to the game.
How did I miss the goals the other team scored? For one, the opponent’s goalie distracted me. He wore a soccer uniform the color of Pepto Bismol, bright pink from head to toe. Questions raced through my mind. Where do you find knee socks that color pink? Does that uniform glow in the dark? Did he know it would be that shade of pink or did he order it on-line and it seemed a bit more subdued? Beyond pondering soccer uniforms, I chatted quite a bit with parents in the crowd. Instead of fully watching the game before me, I allowed conversations to distract me. Lastly, I did not engage with the events on the soccer field because every little thing lately has been reminding me of a very difficult situation in my own life. My thoughts have been consumed by my own personal pain and loss, instead of being fully present in the moment and seeing what others before me are experiencing.
It is easy to be distracted in life. We get caught up in our own thoughts, emotions, and agendas. However, this keeps us from seeing the possible moments of ministry to others. I went from cheering on students at a game, to making a defeat even more awkward afterwards. Unintentionally, my focus on my personal pain caused me to hurt another.
In the book of Genesis, we find another whose overwhelming pain caused heartache to others. Jacob felt distracted by his own pain, loss, and grief. Jacob fathered twelve sons but his favorite was son number eleven, Joseph. His older brothers felt extreme jealousy of Joseph so they sold him into slavery. Then they used false evidence of a bloody coat to convince Jacob that his precious son had died. Little did he know that through a series of events over the span of around twenty years, Joseph went from a lowly house slave to second in command of all of Egypt.
Jacob still resided in Canaan and during this time a terrible famine struck the land. Jacob sent his ten oldest sons to buy food in the land of Egypt, while keeping the youngest with him at home. The sons ended up in the presence of Joseph even though they did not know the identity of this royal official. Joseph, however, instantly recognized his brothers and asked questions about the family. The brothers told Joseph about their younger brother and father. In a desperate plan to see if his brothers had changed, Joseph imprisoned Simeon until all the brothers returned to Egypt. Nine of the brothers returned to Egypt. Sadly, Jacob in his grief and fear of losing another son did not let the brothers return, thus leaving Simeon in jail. Months dragged by and eventually the time came for the purchase of more provisions for the family. Let’s pick up the story in Genesis 43.
Now the famine was still severe in the land. So when they had eaten all the grain they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go back and buy us a little more food.”
But Judah said to him, “The man warned us solemnly, ‘You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.’ If you will send our brother along with us, we will go down and buy food for you. But if you will not send him, we will not go down, because the man said to us, ‘You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.’”
Israel asked, “Why did you bring this trouble on me by telling the man you had another brother?”
They replied, “The man questioned us closely about ourselves and our family. ‘Is your father still living?’ he asked us. ‘Do you have another brother?’ We simply answered his questions. How were we to know he would say, ‘Bring your brother down here’?”
Once again, Simeon is still in prison in Egypt! Jacob in his pain and distress is not paying attention to the pressing needs of others. He is focused only on his pain and his fear of more potential loss in the future. His delay caused an emergency situation for the rest of the family as well.
Then Judah said to Israel his father, “Send the boy along with me and we will go at once, so that we and you and our children may live and not die.
Here is a matter of life and death, yet Jacob ignored the needs of everyone around him, as well as his son still in prison because of the grief in his heart. Eventually, he was forced to take action but he still focused on his personal pain, completely oblivious to those in desperate situations around him.
Take your brother also and go back to the man at once. And may God Almighty grant you mercy before the man so that he will let your other brother and Benjamin come back with you. As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved.” So the men took the gifts and double the amount of silver, and Benjamin also. They hurried down to Egypt and presented themselves to Joseph.
Upon this second visit to Egypt, Joseph released Simeon from prison and revealed his true identity to his brothers. A family torn apart experienced a joyous reunion. All of this could have taken place earlier if only Jacob had chosen to respond to the needs of those around him instead of focusing solely on his own grief.
We all hurt. We all suffer terribly. We need to work through our pain, not deny or suppress it. However, sometimes helping others during our difficult times, can help us find restoration in our own hearts and lives. Jacob would have been reunited with Joseph earlier if he had chosen to look up from his own pain and took action to help others.
One of my favorite examples of someone who looked past their grief to minister to others would be Corrie Ten Boom. Her entire family died in Nazi concentration camps during World War II. Yet, after the war, she did not retreat into her own pain. Instead, she traveled throughout Europe promoting the gospel message, showing people how to accept and give God’s forgiveness. Thousands of lives were transformed by her story. She chose to focus on others, to see them healed and whole from their own tragic loss and pain, instead of wallowing in her own grief.
Lives are impacted by our response to pain, for the good or the bad. We can choose to look down at our own pain or to look up to minister to others. For me, it may be a small decision to fully pay attention to a soccer game, to think of those players out there and what they are doing instead of the painful thoughts bombarding my mind. Next time, I will hope for their win but if there is a loss, I will console the team! My response will match their need compared to showing an obvious deficit in my own heart. But to be completely honest, I still may be a little distracted by the pink goalie outfit!
This story is a synopsis of my life. Short blog post today. My life, my story, much like many of yours is messy. But, it’s full of hope and victory. Be blessed.
Have you ever had good intentions? Of course you have, we all have. Just about every accomplishment in life at some point started with an intention. Intentions are not bad, they are catalysts. But, it seems as though we live in a society that is high on intentions and low on follow through.
I’m not one to bash social media, because you are likely reading this on one of the platforms now. But have you noticed how much of social media is about intentions? “My family and I have decided we’re going to get back in church.” “I’ve decided to lose 20 pounds by the end of the year.” “I’m ready to start making the money I deserve.” “I’m going to commit myself to ….” You get the point. They’re intentions, not accomplishments. The problem is they typically stay stuck right there!
This might be the most basic (I call it captain obvious) advice you’ll ever hear: Just start! Just actually do the thing you are desiring. Just start! Will you be good at it? Probably not. Will you fail? Likely yes. Will you get better? You will, if you just start.
I’ve shared part of my story with several over the years, but many people don’t know that I didn’t play piano in public until I was 26 years old. I knew a few chords, and that was it. I barely knew how to turn a computer on in my mid-twenties. Now, I lead worship, do graphic design, video editing, and websites. I’m no genius, and in all honesty, I’m not even this super-overachiever. No, but I did start at some point. My first Sunday service playing in front of people, I promise you I knew three chords (C, F, and G) …. if another chord on the chart came around, I just fake played and kept going. To be honest, I really wasn’t all that good!
As I’ve seen on social media many times: “I don’t know who needs to hear this today…”. My message today is – JUST START! That thing you’ve been thinking about, start it. Don’t wait till the stars align and everything is right, just start. A quote from the great theologian Harold Hill (actually he’s the Music Man, not a theologian, but you get it) … “You pile up enough tomorrows, and you’ll find you are left with nothing but a lot of empty yesterdays.” Just start!
The last word on this random thought of the day is this: Don’t give up when others are better. I know creative types struggle with this, and I’m sure athletes and scholars do as well, because it’s a human condition. There are always going to be others that are more accomplished than us. There will always be someone better at whatever it is you are doing. But, do it anyway. You get better as you do, not as you wait.
Intentions are fine, but they are just that. Do something today. Start now, and you’ll thank yourself later!
“I Got Saved” by Selah is one of my new favorites. I love this song. I love the simplicity of the message. I found this video of some of the back story of the song, as well as a challenge video. Enjoy!
It’s a little after midnight as I type this blog post. In today’s local news, the Gulf of Mexico claimed another drown victim. Down here in the Panhandle of Florida, we’ve had somewhere near 20 drownings in the past two weeks. It does make the news, and it is reported, but the casualties continue to pile up. It’s almost a daily occurrence now. The culprit? a rip current. A rip current is: “a fast, narrow moving channels of water that will pull you out away from the shore. The speeds rip currents move can be up to eight feet per second.” What’s really dangerous about rip currents is they are almost undetectable. There are things to watch for, but for the average beach-goer or vacationer, they are virtually invisible. Once caught in the current, it’s force is too strong. While the current can move someone 8 feet per second, the average Olympic swimmer moves at about 4 feet per second. Fighting against the power of the water is a losing battle.
Before you quit reading, I’m headed somewhere with this posting. The comparisons of our current culture in the church and in society have flooded my mind tonight (not sure “flooded” is the best word choice, but you get what I mean). To be clear the rip current is deadly. It has taken around 20 lives in two weeks around here. But, day after day, people continue to defy the red flag warning system that is in place. They “wink at” the danger. They think “it couldn’t happen to me or my family”, or “I’m a strong swimmer”, or “it doesn’t look that bad”. But, the silent assassin sits just below the water level, waiting for the next victim.
Could it be that we have rip currents pervading our society and even the church? Could it be that the rip current is taking people out one at a time? All the while, we “wink at” the danger. We think it can’t happen to me. I’m here to raise the double red flag (that’s the system for those non-beach people … double red, means DON’T GET IN THE WATER). We have a rip current that is taking out the church. I know many are already thinking this is yet another blog post about the evils in the world. And yes, there are evils in the world. Drugs, sex, perversion, pornography, and on and on. We live in evil times. But, this blog post isn’t about the “big bad evils in the world”. This is more about the hidden current in the church. What do I mean?
I believe Satan has many schemes, but two in my opinion are prominent. First, it’s the oldest of them all, deception and a fear of missing out. Way back in the beginning, in the Garden of Eden, the first lie was “Did God really say?”. For Adam and Eve there was a fear of missing out. They had everything, yet, they were deceived to believe that God was holding out on them. It’s nothing new, but I believe the current is stronger today then it’s ever been. For many Christians, there is a feeling of “am I missing out”. There’s a fear of giving control to God. To do that, means potentially missing out on all the things this world offers. As a reminder, Adam and Eve HAD EVERYTHING …. EVERYTHING. They were in paradise walking with God. We have the same, we have EVERYTHING. Yet, the current tries to pull us out. The second strong current used by Satan is “divide and conquer”. In my lifetime, I’m not sure I have ever seen the church as divided as it is now. Of course we live in a society that is offended by everything, and that has now crept into the church. How did we get to the place we are in? Why is everyone so upset and hurt and offended … EVEN IN THE CHURCH? To be clear there are stands we must take. There are things we cannot allow, and we cannot compromise on. But, there is so much we can agree on. I have friends that are more reformed then John Calvin himself. I have friends that are the “hair on fire jump the pews Pentecostals”. I know quite a few mainline Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterians. I’ve even got Catholic friends that love Jesus with all their heart. But then there is this rip current of division that just keeps coming back. It’s taking Christians out one by one. Fighting, grumbling, murmuring, and gossiping. It’s killing us! I mean even as I’m typing this my blood pressure is rising. IT IS KILLING US!! I for one have had enough of both of the currents. Jesus is all we need. There isn’t a fear of missing something else. This sounds like old school preaching, but if you have Jesus, you really do have everything. And second, this bickering within the body has to stop. I promise I’m going to do my part.
Alright, back to the rip current. It is deadly. It’s claimed many people that didn’t see it coming. But, it’s survivable. The way to survived a rip current is to not fight it. The key is to swim not back against the current, because you’ll lose. The secret is to swim parallel to the shore just enough to get out of the current, then you can safely get back to shore. Here’s my take: we can’t fight against the deception and gossip. We don’t push back, we avoid. We get out of there as quickly as possible. Oh boy, this is just a free flow type session here, but I’m hearing it now …. Let me be clear: If we are fighting back the deception we are losing. If we are participating in the gossip, we are losing. Get away, don’t be a part of it. You want the life that God has for you? Don’t stay in the rip current and fight. NO! Get out. Flee!
This blog post was truly free flow of thoughts (as many are). I don’t check for spelling and grammar (which might be obvious 🙂 … The rip current is in the church. It’s unseen, but it’s deadly. If you find yourself in the currents of deception or gossip, it’s time to quit “winking at” the problem.
I finally could not take it anymore. My fatigue issues just lasted too long. It has been since childhood, something hereditary, cursed genes from my maternal side. Poor thing, she alone can relate to the struggle. Usually after my mom and I discuss our frustrations with this unresolved medical issue, we both just want to take a nap! After years of dealing with being tired, I took matters into my own hands.
The decision was perfectly understandable (at least in my not so humble opinion). The doctor said there was no more she could do; she had tried everything she could. Not only that, I have friends in my sphere who live like jack rabbits on heroine which adds to my frustrations because they make me tired just talking to them, much less trying to keep their pace. My life may be taking a new direction which will involve energy, a lot of energy, too much energy. I wish I could take a nap right now since I am worn out from thinking about it. So, I did the only logical course considering my situation: I drank caffeine.
Side note here: I am allergic to caffeine. That’s right, you coffee-addicts, I can’t even stand to be within blocks of a Starbucks for the smell itself makes me nauseated. I could never do that cool thing of hanging at a coffee house listening to music for it would make me sick, literally, and my quaint flavored water just did not help me stay awake.
Out of desperation, I put the water down and tried something new. I was tired of being tired. I prayed for healing. I sought medical help. I read articles. I tried some strange herbs and other alternative methods. (Some of them were weird, weird, weird. Did I mention weird?) Nothing worked. So, I decided to try what 99.9% of other Americans do to give themselves a “pick-me up”. I turned to caffeine.
I wanted to make the caffeine leap with baby steps so I did not drink coffee. It was an all–natural tea, seemingly nothing to worry about. That is until about twenty minutes after consumption. My head began throbbing. My arms began shaking. My stomach did flip-flops. I went into all-out food poisoning and spent hours regretting that one small glass of caffeinated tea. (If the tea is so natural, then why is my body acting so unnaturally?)
As the food poisoning took its course, the bathroom became my habitat. I was miserable. I was not only in bad condition physically but emotionally as well. I just wanted to feel normal. I desired to have one day to not be overwhelmed to finish tasks, to get work done without a needed nap, to start and finish a whole project, to… You get the picture. Instead, I was hanging in my bathroom.
While bonding with the porcelain throne, God spoke to me. I am amazed He speaks but much less when I am in the bathroom. I guess He knew He had my undivided attention at that moment. I felt Him say, “Why don’t you just accept your limitations?” Tears came to my eyes, while a verse flooded my heart:
My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.
(2 Corinthians 12:9b)
Then, I began to speak to myself in third person. Why? I have no idea, but sometimes it helps me process. Plus, who else can you process with when you are in the bathroom? Shannon, why don’t you just accept your fatigue? Why are you trying to fix it? God has allowed that into your life. He ordained it for you. Maybe, like Paul, the weakness is for your good:
To keep me from becoming conceited…there was given me a thorn in my flesh a messenger of Satan, to torment me.
(2 Corinthians 12:7a, c)
Could it be that the weakness, the one thing I hate, the one part of me physically that has plagued me from childhood, which has seemed to limit me so much in terms of “accomplishments”, may be the one thing that has saved me? Is it possible that fatigue protected me from the worse part of myself? What if it were not given to me? What if I had been a jackrabbit on heroine myself? Would my energized to-do lists actually only have served to drive me away from God instead of to Him? Paul understood that the weakness left, the weakness not removed, actually enabled him to gain, not lose, life.
Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest in me. That is why, for Christi’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
(2 Corinthians 12:9b-10)
In the bathroom, I realized my fatigue was not an issue in need of a remedy but a place to find grace. That grace mixes with my weakness and produces the power of God at work in and through me. I had tried to settle with so much less with my caffeinated tea mix (which tasted horribly, by the way). In my desire for a solution, I had missed the grace.
Weaknesses can come in multiple ways: physically, emotionally, intellectually, relationally, or circumstantially. What is that part of your life you wish you could change? How have you been attempting to “fix” it? Could it be that God is saying, “Why don’t you just accept your limitations?” He wants to extend grace, right there, to that weakness. We may never know how that weakness possibly saved us. However, we can know His power in that place. For with Him, our weakness becomes the place of grace. Caffeine cannot make that kind of promise! And neither can any of your “so-called” solutions. Accept the weakness. Accept the grace, even if it is found in the bathroom!
