Month: May 2020

We Need Each Other

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

I’m an introvert by nature. I’m very much a Melancholy with a big dose of Phlegmatic on top. Although I have a profession where I work with people, my natural tendency is to be alone. Part of this is due to me being an only child who didnt have a lot of friends around growing up. The other is that I have general insecurities when I am around other people. Even when people compliment me I don’t really know what to say. I just look down and say an awkward thank you.

Over the years, I have learned how to interact with others out of necessity. However, there is always a little awkwardness. This is true whether I am speaking to just one person or whether I may be speaking to a hundred. I just get tunnel vision and do my job. Nevertheless, I have learned through working as a counselor and a Pastor that we all need each other in some way or another.

Although, I dislike asking people for help, I have had to do that over the years. No one can do it all even if they think they can. At some point in our life we become helpless, stuck or trapped in a situation where we need the help of another to get us through.

Baby Jessica

Nothing exemplifies this than the story of 18 month old Jessica McClure. In 1987, “Baby Jessica”, which she would be come known as, fell down a well in Midland, Texas. She was stuck for 58 hours, 22 feet below ground until rescuers were able to reach her.

Part of the plan to rescue her was to dig a shaft next to the one that Baby Jessica was in. Then rescuers would dig a connecting tunnel between the two shafts. However, someone would have to physically go down the new shaft, through the tunnel to where Jessica was stuck. That job was given to a local firefighter named Robert O-Donnell. O’Donnell wiggled his way down the shaft and tunnel and painstakingly dislodged Baby Jessica from the well.

It is easier to get through a tough situation when you have someone there to help you through it. Baby Jessica could not climb out of the well herself. She needed someone to physically go down to where she was and help her out of the pit.

Exodus 18

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

In some cases, pride keeps us from asking for help. We don’t want to admit that we cant do it all by ourselves. However, by thinking this way, we are setting ourselves up for both burnout and failure.

Here’s a story from Exodus 18. Moses’s father-in-law, Jethro, gave him some warnings about trying to do everything on his own and not utilizing the help that he had around him.

13 The next day Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people, and they stood around him from morning till evening. 14 When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, “What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?”

15 Moses answered him, “Because the people come to me to seek God’s will. 16 Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of God’s decrees and instructions.”

17 Moses’ father-in-law replied, “What you are doing is not good. 18 You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. 19 Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people’s representative before God and bring their disputes to him. 20 Teach them his decrees and instructions, and show them the way they are to live and how they are to behave. 21 But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. 22 Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you. 23 If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.”

24 Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said. 25 He chose capable men from all Israel and made them leaders of the people, officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. 26 They served as judges for the people at all times. The difficult cases they brought to Moses, but the simple ones they decided themselves.

Exodus 18:13-26

Jethro warned that Moses was going to burn himself out. He could not do it all alone and the same is true for us all. In doing so, we fail to be effective leaders. We are more likely to make poor decisions and those decisions can and will effect other people. Moses simply had to ask for help in order to assure that he can be the best leader that he can be.

Conclusion

The bottom line is that we do need each other in this life. We cant make it on our own. Sometimes we need to ask for help. Like Baby Jessica we can stuck and need someone to go into the depths and help us get free. Like Moses we need to ask for help so we can avoid burnout and live up to our best potential as a leader- and as a person.

Never Give Up

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

From 1939 to 1945, Europe was engaged in the second world war. By the time it ended, it is estimated that 60 million people died. However, of those 60 million, 40 million are thought to be civilians who died as victims of war including those who perished in the concentration camps, at Normandy, in Pearl Harbor, and Hiroshima. 

In those six years, England experienced firsthand the effects of war as German airplanes repeatedly bombed the cities of Britain and terrified an entire nation. There were moments in which many in England thought of giving up and giving in. There was genuine fear throughout Europe as the thought was ‘as Britain goes, so goes the war’.  Winston Churchill was aware of this as he addressed the House of Commons in May of 1940. A nation looked to their leader to determine whether they will keep on fighting or give in to defeat. He said: 

“I would say to the House, as I said to those who have joined this Government, I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat. We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many long months of toil and struggle.

       “You ask what is our aim? I can answer in one word: Victory. Victory at all costs. Victory in spite of all terror. Victory however long and hard the road may be. For without victory there is no survival.”

These words encouraged the Allies to continue to fight against the evils of Hitler and gave a light of hope through the dark days ahead.

Our God says that we are meant for victory. That we are more than over comers and that we are a people that are called for a purpose. Even in those times when we think that we can’t go on we can know that God is completing the work that he started in us..

There are a few things that we can do in order to remind ourselves that the troubles we go thorough in life are only tempory. The first is to:

1) Remember Where You Came From

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

It’s important to think about where God has brought us from. These times serve to remind us how far we have come and helps direct us towards our goals. 

Take a second right now to remember that moment when God placed a call on your life. Were there bumps along the way, road blacks, detours? The answer is most definitely yes. But you overcame and have may realize that if it were not for God working in your life, you would not be where you are today.

The Israelites used to erect memorial stones after victories to remind future generations of the faithfulness of God. Let your perseverance be a memorial stone of his faithfulness throughout your life. 

In the dark times of failure and doubt remember that he is completing you

And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.

Phil 1:6

There will be good times and bad times, happy times and sad times, times of hope and times of discouragement, times of faith and times of doubt, times when you can take on the world and times when you struggle to get out of bed in the morning.

But whatever the times remember the time when God called you, remember when he held you, remember  when he upheld you,  remember when he encouraged you, remember when he loved you and sustained you when you needed it the most. 

Remember your victories and remember your failures. Your victories remind you of his sustaining power in your life and your failures remind you of what you been through and how his grace brought you through it. Most importantly, remember that the work he is completing in you is not  based on our works but based on His faithfulness and the call that he has placed on your life. 

God has such great things ahead for those who trust Him. His word says that no eye has seen and no ear has heard the plans that God has for his children.

Your journey to being made complete. The journey that God is leading you on, takes time. Sometimes you may not feel like that chosen one of God. Remember the story of the Velveteen Rabbit and him wanting to become Real?

 “What is REAL? ” asks the Rabbit one day, when he and the Skin Horse are lying side by side on the nursery floor. “Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle? “

“Real isn ‘t how you are made, ” says the Skin Horse. “It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real. “

“Does it hurt? ” asks the Rabbit?

“Sometimes, ” says the Skin Horse, for he is always truthful. “When you are real you don’t mind being hurt”.

“Does it happen all at once, like being wound up, ” he asks, “or bit by bit”?

“It doesn ‘t happen all at once, ” says the Skin Horse. “You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it does not often happen to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand… . “

This is a reminder that no matter what we go through, or what we feel like, we are still beautiful to Him. Sometimes we may wonder why God is allowing certain things to happen. We have self-talk that ask ‘why do I feel like this’. ‘This isn’t what I thought life would be’. ‘God you promised me that you would be there for me when I needed you but you feel so far away’. Even when we fall we can be assured that he loves us and that the gifts and callings of God are irrevocable. No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[o] neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:38-39

We can be assured that someday we can be part of that great cloud of witnesses like it talks about in Hebrews. But now we need to surround ourselves by people who will help us get there.

2) Be Careful Who You Allow to Speak in Your Life

2 Samuel 10 gives us a great warning about being careful on who we allow to speak into our ear.

The king of the Ammonites died and his son had now become King. David wanted to pay respect to the new king because his father had shown kindness to him. 

However, the kings advisers began to say that David had other motives and wanted to take over that kingdom.The new king listened to his advisers and the result ended up in a long war between Israel and the Ammonites. These two nations still have shaky relations to this day.

This is a sincere warning to be mindful who you surround yourself with and who is whispering in your ear. Remember that Job had his own advisors and were not speaking for God.

3. Never Give In

Photo by Tirachard Kumtanom on Pexels.com

A year later after Winston Churchill gave his victory speech to the House of Commons, he once again was faced of motivating his country. Standing before the graduates of the Harrow School, a military academy that he once attended, he encouraged them with these words:

But for everyone, surely, what we have gone through in this period – I am addressing myself to the School – surely from this period of ten months this is the lesson: never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never-in nothing, great or small, large or petty – never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.

Conclusion

For us, in our trials, in our doubts, in our effort to get through the chaos that life brings us, we are encouraged to never give in.

Never give in to fear, never give in to doubt, never give in to hopelessness or despair. Never give in! Never give in! Never give in!. Never give up on faith. Never give up on each other. Never give up on the promises He gives us because God will never give up on you.