A Lucky Day

                   It was indeed a lucky day. The image of the big snow pile in the corner of the parking lot looms large in my memory. The image of my car key laying in the snow looms large in my memory. These two events were separated by about one hour, an hour of heavy snowfall. The key was surrounded by about an inch of snow. The gathering of two to three inches of snow on the parking lot created the pile, which, had I not found it earlier, would have been the burial ground for my key. O, it will melt sometime in the Spring or Summer and the key would again be visible, but it seems unlikely it would find its way back to my hands.

I am pretty good about keeping track of my keys, consistently putting them in my pocket when I get out of the car. In this case that did not happen, I guess. I am not sure how it ended up in the parking lot. After a pretty thorough search of all my pockets and asking if anyone else had seen it, I was on my way to the car for one last search, when, as I got about half way across the parking lot, I easily saw the key laying in the snow.

I am a Christian who prays, but I don't recall praying that I would find the key. I recall thinking a bit about the hassle it would be if I didn't find it. We had a second key, but I had not seen it for a long time. I suspected it would turn up sometime, but I could not tell someone else exactly where it was. So there was the possibility that I would have to get a new key made, a dollar and time cost that would certainly feel like a waste. My wife would need to drive probably more than a half hour in poor road conditions, due to the snow accumulation. I anticipated leaving the car there hoping those responsible for the lot would allow that for a day or two.

Why did I find the key? How many times have we heard people describe their lives like the country western song, “If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all”? How many times have we done this? How many times have I? In each of the four chapters in his letter to the Colossians, the apostle Paul encouraged thanksgiving, abundantly and deeply, and with singing. He doesn't write of thanksgiving as an add on, or an app. He writes of this attitude as foundational to life. This car key find is a clear reminder to me to give thanks for something given to me. I did walk out and see it, but is it more accurate to say I found the key, or to say the key was found? Was I the only one involved in this find? Did luck just come my way that day? It is possible to describe it that way. However, we leave out a lot if that is all we do.

William Tyndale, in the 16^th century, translated Gen 39:2 this way, “The Lord was with Joseph and he was a lucky fellow.” Many Christians hesitate to attribute happenings in their life to luck. However, as Mike Mason noted in The Gospel According to Job, from God's perspective maybe there is no such thing as luck, but from our human perspective, we might as well call it luck when the cause and effect of an event is completely baffling. Isn't luck, bad or good, just a word to describe what we can't describe in any understandable way? I am thinking that just might be a good way to describe my key find. It was my lucky day. But that is not the whole story.

Jesus said the Father knows all kinds of details, most amazingly, how many hairs on each of the 7 billion heads in this world. I think he knew the key was there, and all the events that led up to me being a lucky fellow that day. What I hope to do is ponder the impact of this experience on all the other events in my life, events that are not, on the surface at least, quite so noticeably lucky. Some of these reflect good luck, some reflect bad luck. O wait, if the Scripture allows for good luck, does it allow for bad luck? That might just be the 64 million dollar question. Maybe for the song to reflect a biblical worldview it would need to say, “If it weren't for good luck, I'd have no luck at all.”

To describe my luck as good requires that I believe in and rest in someone who does understand the understandable. As a follower of Jesus Christ I have to ask myself if I truly believe? Do I believe what Jesus said? Do I believe, and fear not? Do I believe, instead of being anxious? Do I believe, instead of being unforgiving and unmerciful? If I believe my life is truly and completely in the hands of a good God, can I say I have bad luck?  

A Table for Four

Imagine having a meal with your favorite people in the world, a small group, where each of you treasure each other beyond words. As humans we eat a lot. Survival requires it. I know we in America many times eat too much. It is easy to do when food is readily available, and in so many tempting tastes. However, even when we control how much or how often we eat, it is still something we do every day, generally more than once a day.

Sit down with your friends. Have a simple meal; something common to eat, something common to drink. As you do this everyday activity, do it thoughtfully, aware of your need to eat and your longing to eat and enjoy. Do your best to make this meal a time and a place of serenity. The troubles of the world, of your world, will seek to disrupt. Pondering the others eating with you has the power to put these disruptions at bay. They are friends.

Some have suggested we should follow Jesus' model when he walked on the earth and spent a significant time with three others; Peter, James and John. Some call this a triad. But it was really a quad, three disciples plus one teacher. I want to suggest switching the numbers, three teachers and one disciple.

Sit yourself at a square table, one person on each side. Break the bread, or whatever common food you have, into four pieces. The size of each is not so significant, just let the breaks fall where they may. Have a drink available, something you enjoy and find quenching.

Eat the first piece to remind yourself that you are there. You want the real you to be present, not some partial representation or false self. This might seem like a simple thing, and in a way it is. Yet, we sometimes hide even from ourselves, those times when we get a glimpse of how unfriendly we can be. On the other hand, we realize we were made to be friends, friends with others and friends with these three friends.

Eat the second piece as you look across the table at your friend who has provided for the meal. He has had his eye on you for a long time, longing to see you be all you can be. He has sent out the invitation for this meal. Of those at the table, he alone has always remained in his spot. When you look for an anchor for your life, he is the one you turn to. Simply stated, he loves you.

Eat the third piece as you look to your right. You realize that this friendship has often gone unnoticed at worst, or quite mysterious at best. As you think about him, you find yourself wondering. You realize that his role in your life has sometimes only been noticed after the fact, after he has seemingly left the scene. Still you are so very grateful for all he has done, not only for you but for all the world. Without him life just wouldn't be.

Eat the fourth piece as you look to your left. In a genuine way you want to interrupt the eating, get up with him, and give him a hug. Of the other three at the table he is the one you can identify with the most. He looks like you. O, maybe he doesn't look like a relative in the normal sense of the word, but you know he has eaten before. You are not so sure about the other two. You look in amazement, and you want to be like him. Compassion and forgiveness flow from his face. This is the face of acceptance. This is the face of love.

The food is separated into parts. Not so with the drink. It flows all as one. The food is broken. The drink is emptied out. The vessel then has a hollow place, waiting to be refilled, refilled with new drink. Today, “Energy drinks” abound, because we don't want to just be, like a lump on a log or a sloth hanging in a tree. We desire to move, to act. For that we need power. There is a market for a fix to revive us and keep us going, or keep us sharp and alert. There is a also an offer of power to live abundantly. As you finish off your meal with your three friends remember that the vessel of life has been emptied, and refilled, by your friend on the left, was overseen and guided by your friend across from you, and explained by your friend on the right.

NOTE: THE SEATING ORDER CAN BE ALTERED AND THE SEQUENCE VARIED. JUST REMEMBER TO INVITE THE SAME THREE FRIENDS FOR A MEAL EVERY DAY.

Prisons, Power, and Freedom

This past Sunday at our worship service we heard a story of a great deliverance, by none other than Almighty God, the Creator of everything. We all listened with rapt attention as Steve shared a synopsis of his life story. If he would share the whole story, I would guess many of us would simply be amazed that he survived. His lostness was clearly evident: prisons, addictions, hurting others (especially his parents), and disdain for himself. The man was in great need of a savior.

For many, maybe most, of us sitting in the chairs listening, on the other hand, Steve was describing a world quite foreign. It is not hard for us to get caught up in the drama, to feel some sense of the despair changed to hope, and to rejoice that the God who called Steve is the true God, the one we worship and seek to serve. Yet don't we often wonder if we are any where near the end of our rope, where God is, like Steve was? Oh, we have felt like we were at times, but looking at our lives with a little more objectivity we easily feel we weren't quite as lost even though theologically we will readily agree that we were. The Bible does declare that we are all in the same boat spiritually.

Before coming to the worship service on Sunday morning I read Paul's letter to the believers at Ephesus. (I find it fruitful sometimes to read entire books of the Bible if I can, without stopping to meditate on a specific verse or a short passage.) One of the themes I noticed anew was Paul's emphatic description of my life in Christ as one marked by power: Christ's power, the power of the evil one, and the power of Christ in me. Paul doesn't just talk about regular power, but great power. This is the power Steve was talking about, the power displayed and easily seen from, as he described it “a front row seat” to the miracles. What about from where I sit, and from where you sit?

Are we sitting in the front row seats? Rest assured, God is not just working in prisons that hold human beings like trapped animals; bodies visible, but spirits entrapped even more. The thought crossed my mind as I sat listening on Sunday, “When he finishes, I should go take the mic and talk about the prisons we easily live in that are not brick and mortar and bars of iron.” Since time was a concern, I am writing instead. These prison walls are not as easily seen, or as easily described. Yet they do exist. Paul wrote that anyone who commits sin is a slave to sin, a prisoner. For a life to be a full Christian life it must be a resurrected life, a life based on the power of the Risen Christ Jesus living inside. What impact does a story like Steve's have on us? His story is dramatic, but we often see our lives as basically ordinary and unexciting, especially by comparison.

Thomas Merton wrote:

A Christian

bases his entire life

on these truths

(of the centrality of the resurrection and its role in our lives).

His entire life

is changed

by the presence

and the action

of the Risen Christ.

He knows

he has encountered

the Risen Christ,

as Paul encountered him

on the road to Damascus.

Such an encounter

does not have to be dramatic,

but it has to be

personal

and real.

Our prisons are real. And they are our prisons. God is not about saving me from Steve's prison. He is about saving me from mine, and you from yours. As we enter this season of lent, may we each embark on a path of discovery, and a path of acknowledging what the walls of our prisons are made of. Christ died to set us free. May we never ever settle for less than the powerful freedom he invites us to know.