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!
I love this song. It’s message is simple, yet convicting.
Anything I put before my God is an idol
Anything I want with all my heart is an idol
Anything I can’t stop thinking of is an idol
Anything that I give all my love is an idol
Lord, help me to put you first, to want you most, to think of you more, and to give you all. Lord, help me as I “clear the stage” in my life.
