I'm STUCK...but...

The weather's bad and my stomach is very upset, so I'm stuck and I'll pretty much let you guess which one is worse.  But how hard is it when we're stuck in life, stuck by circumstances, stuck by decisions that were made a looooonnng time ago, and even stuck by decisions made by other people?  That's how I feel way more than I probably should, I just feel stuck.  

I think there are way more people in this world and in our communities who feel stuck than those who don't.  

That statement makes me think, why?  Why are we stuck?  Why are we not enjoying freedom in Christ and freedom in our nation?  Why do we keep sticking ourselves?  But isn't that what it comes down to?  I think it comes down to hurt, to hurt keeping us from leaving, hurt keeping us from staying, hurt keeping us from our God, hurt making us look anywhere but the Remedy.

I took the above picture on an extremely enjoyable time, I was asked to speak at a retreat in Michigan by a friend of mine and I snapped this shot while driving through North Central Indiana.  This picture represents something, something so important when we're stuck, so important when we're stuck in those dark times of life.  So important when we can't pay the bills, when we are hurt beyond belief, when we're wondering why our marriage is going the way it is...it represents...daylight.  

There's an awesome song by an obscure band named Remedy Drive that says...

"Has everything you counted on left you right here, with no warning.

Have your dreams become invisible, wait with me dear, until the morning.

Light will make the night burn out.

Hold on, daylight is coming."  

What if this daylight doesn't come soon?   What if we are still stuck when we wake up in the morning?  What if when I finally do get to sleep at night, the first thing I feel when I wake up is the same hurt?  

John 16:33 Jesus tells us, "In this world you WILL have trouble, but take heart, I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD." 

I think all we can do is simply...hold on.  When we do, when we pursue, it's amazing what happens to the stuck.

 

Stay, piles of fire, a cow, and a polar bear dog.

Name this song!!!  It starts with a sweet high voice and says...

"You say, I only hear what want to.

You say I talk so all the time.

And I thought what I felt was simple,

and I thought that I don't belong,

and now that I am leaving,

now I know that I did something wrong 'cause I missed you.

Yeah yeah, I missed you."  

Did you get it?  

Of course you did, it's 'Stay' by Lisa Loeb and at the risk of losing my man-card, it is one of the greatest songs of all time in my humble opinion.  Why, you may asked in that annoyed tone?  Well, because it's...so...me.  Let me explain...

After our youth service we call Sunday Night Alive (and have for years church across the street that stole our name...I think it's funny) and since the next day was MLK day and everything was closed, a whole bunch of us went to our favorite Mexican restaurant named Guadalajara to eat.  It was a good time of hanging out and chatting, but these things always come to an end and then it's time to go home.  

I gave some friends rides to their places of sleeping and one of them lives waaaaaaaaayyyyy out in the country and this is where it gets interesting.  

It was really snowy that night for KY, which means there was an inch or so and the roads were covered.  We were talking and having a good time when I said, "there's animal tracks in the road."  And then continued to ramble about the animal tracks that were still in the road.  I rambled SO much that I kinda remember Cheyenne (who was sitting in the front passenger seat) gasp, but it didn't register with me that she said, "COW!"  Well...until I saw the big cow butt right in front of us.  Of course the road is covered in snow, I can't brake, I can't swerve, so I just manage to miss the cow as it cowed it's way on down the road (some awesome driving skills I may add).  

You ever noticed that as people we can 'talk so all the time,' that we can miss things, leave, not leave, make the wrong choices and it's just not right?  

We can drift away from the fist love (if we developed it) of the Remedy and next thing we know, it's not right and we miss Him.  Maybe it's time we listen, it's time to reevaluate our situation, because like Lisa's song, it's loud we can hear and it is that simple.

Life Ends

 "What if my love was loud, sharing this joy I've found?  Could hearts refrain from giving praise? What if I followed You, knowing You'd see me through?  Would I have anything to fear?  Cause there must be more than this!  Yes, there's something more than this!!!!!!"  

  This is the opening from an awesome worship song written by Matt McCoy, this song speaks directly to what I'm thinking, directly to the point that I'm at in life.  I absolutely love this song!!!

  I was with 3 friends tonight, we went to watch some Jr. High girls play in an indoor soccer game (which is surprisingly entertaining) and we decided that since there was a Steak-N-Shake near by, we'd eat there.  After dinner we had to get on good 'ol I-75 for a quick jaunt as we had to go to the other side of town.  As I was merging on to the interstate (yes, I ALWAYS drive Kaely) there was a tremendously large truck in the right lane, and not being very familiar with Richmond, KY, I thought my lane continued to the next exit...well...it pretty much didn't.  I said, 'Holy crap, lane ends here."  To which Ty, who was sitting in the front passenger seat replied, 'Life ends here.'  Which was kind of funny to me.  

And got me thinking about our song by Matt McCoy.

"Help me to stand.  Help me be real.  Help me feel the wounds you feel.  What would it take for this heart to break  for You?  I longing to be, I'm willing to find deeper meaning in this life."  

How awesome would it be if we all lived in a way that we stood, that we were real with God, ourselves and each other.  If we saw the hurt, if our hearts broke for stuff that matters?  Could you actually imagine if everyone who claimed to be a follower of Jesus actually did these things?  If money, sports, our jobs just weren't as important as following our Creator?  Even death and sickness would no longer have the hold it does on us because it just wouldn't hurt as bad.  That we live to the point that when we die, when it's time for us to go, we've brought and added to the fame of Christ?  

The bridge of this song says: "What if my pride fell down?  Releasing of this crown.  Would I reflect the Grace You give?"  

And I LOVE the next part because it encourages US to take control of our situations, to get up from the hurt, from the mistakes...from the pain.  It says, "What if I took a stand, raising the flag again?  Could I be used to bring You fame?"

The answer is of course...YES!   There's so much more to this life, so much more to what's right before us, so much more than money, family, friends, EVERYTHING!!!  

WHO'S WILLING TO FIND THE DEEPER MEANING? 

1920

 I went to a birthday party for my grandmother last night, she turned 89.  Now, I know there's been lots and lots and lots of people who have lived longer and there are people who are older, but just think about that for a second...89.  Granny, was born in 1920...19...20.  

 As we were driving, I was thinking about all that my Granny has seen, all that's gone on in her lifetime.  She was born at the end of WWI, went through WWII, Korea, Vietnam.  She lived through the great depression and Granny saw the beginning of the struggle between Israel and the Palestinians.  Granny saw Charles Manson, Jim Jones, the rise and fall of Communism, and the murder of millions upon millions by people such as Hitler AND Pol Pot.  

 Notice what all I mentioned that she saw?  That's a lot of Negative, that's so much pain and torment and hurt.  How many people have been hurt? How many children have died of hunger?how many innocent young girls have been raped and sold into slavery?  How many?  

 Why is it that there is so much negative that outweighs the positive?  Why is it that we are seeing these things overshadow the things of Righteousness?  

 It's fairly simple I guess, it's the whole wide and narrow are the roads thing isn't?  

So what should we do?  Sit and watch or do something...anything?  The sad part is, my Granny doesn't have much longer, she's as healthy as an 89 year-old can be, but she's 89, and we don't live forever.  What if one person, you or me decides we're going to try to change a life?  We're going to talk to that kid down the street who's parents just split?  Would that be worth our time?  Would that be worth giving up some overtime or leaving work early or not watching the game?  

You decide.  But let me ask this.  How much hurt have you seen, does it bother you?  

Ugh...my little girl is sick.  It's not bad sick or sick that she won't get over, in fact, my wife texted me and said she's feeling much better today.  She said she's bored...she's like me I suppose, can't sit still.  My wife asked her if she wanted to go to the movies this afternoon so she could get out, and she said no because she 'wants to wait until her mouth feels better so she can eat popcorn.'  She is totally my kid.  

But last night was no fun at all, she has some virus and it makes her throat very, very sore.  We were trying to look into her mouth with a lamp (because not one of our 53 flashlights have working batteries due to my son making them 'trains') and it made her freak.  She screamed, squirmed, covered her mouth with her hands, and when my wife got her finger in her mouth, she bit it!  Which is crazy, because my daughter is the sweetest most helpful 3 year old I've ever known.  She was that desperate to avoid anything, especially those doing something to try to help her.  

Trying to help?  Did she not realize that we were trying to help?  That we were trying to see what the problem does so we could gibe her a Remedy (thanks David Crowder)?  I mean she did everything to avoid and stop this...this...Remedy.

This morning I had to drive to Mercer Senior High School to speak at FCA because one of the most unbelievably awesome teens I have met in my life asked me to do it.  As I was driving to school (still has a dreadful ring to it doesn't it?) through the snow, I started thinking about our adventure last night and just how close the situation with my daughter and my situation with God mirrors each other.

Look at it like this, God offers us the Remedy, freely...plainly.  But yet we scream, squirm, cover our mouths, and even bite to keep from taking it or letting it do anything with us.  I wonder how many times I've mad God think, 'Justin, don't you know I'm trying to HELP?'  'I know it tastes yuckie, I know it hurts, I know you don't want to give up this or that, but this is the Remedy, and the Remedy is best.'

The time has come for the people like me to stop pursuing the things that do not matter.  Because the Remedy is here, the Remedy is now, the Remedy is free, and the Remedy doesn't care...it just wants to heal.

funny

One of my favorite movie lines is an obscure quote from the movie Tombstone which starred Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer.  The movie is a loose, and I mean LOOOOOOSE interpretation for Wyatt Earp's escapades in death and destruction in Tombstone, AZ.  There's a point where Doc Holiday (Val Kilmer) is dying of tuberculosis and Wyatt (Kurt Russell) visits him.  Wyatt gives Doc some sort of certificate that states that Doc and Wyatt are friends, which is significant because Doc didn't really have any friends.  As Wyatt leaves Doc for the last time, Doc looks at his feet and before he dies he says, 'This is funny."  

It's such a weird scene, why is that in there, why is that funny?  What's even more 'funny' is that today I learned that one of the girls who used to babysit me when I was little passed away....2 years ago!  Yes, she passed away 2 years ago!  And even better, I haven't seen her for probably 16 years.  I don't know why this struck me, maybe because she was the one who introduced me to U2 when the Joshua Tree first came out.  Maybe because the memories of her and me and listening to U2 represented something.  Like the day she picked me, my brother, and her brother up from the movies after we saw Space Balls, that was the time we tried to construct our own towers of Babel from straws, and we drove home, listening to U2.  

Maybe it's just that I've hit a certain point in life, that I want what matters to really matter. Maybe how if I had it all to do over again, I'd still listen to U2 and I definitely would have seen Space Balls, but maybe I'd have spent more time getting ready for the things that do matter.  Enjoying the things that are gone, that I had no idea would leave at that point.  So I guess the question is, are we participating in the things that matter?  Are we giving God the chance to blow our minds?  Are we thinking, wow, the now will be gone and who knows how long those who are close to us have left.  

Thanks Lela, for introducing me to U2, you were right, they are 'cool.'

The first one....

Blogs are stupid, so therefore I love them.  I pretty much do whatever my beard tells me to do, at least that's my excuse.  How often is that our reasoning for decisions that we make?  Well...'I'm not sure about why' or 'I really don't know what to do here'... so I'll just do whatever.  

 The simple reality is that there is a God who is there before us, who is with us and offers us wisdom through His Word and people He's put in our lives.  I work with students, and man they are so awesome, and yet I'm amazed at how resilient some of them are.  I mean, to go through what they have to go through and yet with child-like faith, they come out the other side.  Maybe a little bruised and scratched, but out the other side never the less.

What happened to that when we got older?  Why is it when things fall apart or go crazy our first order of business is to look everywhere else?  Is it because we are wiser?  Or have we just been influenced and conditioned by our American Dream?